KPD: Case Files
by Tiny.Dncer
Summary: konoha Police Department's violent crimes unit put their two best on a case that could have huge consequences if left unsolved. With medical expert and former squad member, Sakura, joining them, Sasuke and Naruto are sure their old squad 7 will be able to crack the case. Except, they didn't account for Sasuke's feelings towards Sakura complicating things. Crime drama AU.
1. Chapter 1

It was always loud in the Konoha Police Department and today was no exception. The constant clamor of complaints and crying, yelling and pleas of innocence only made up a fraction of the maddening din that caused Sasuke's head to pound. There were also the phones which never ceased to stop ringing, the arguing of the other detectives he often wondered why he called friends, and then there was his loud mouth blonde partner and, regrettably, best friend, who was yelling in his ear. All and all, Sasuke was having an incredibly difficult time filling out his case report.

"Will you shut up Naruto! I'm trying to fill out our report, which, interestingly enough, should be done by you since I filled out the last four."

Naruto let out an indignant huff. "Damn, Bastard. Did the stick go farther up your butt than usual this morning? And we both know you owe me big for dragging your ass back here. Besides you know how bad I am at case reports…Grandma always throws a bitch fit whenever I do them."

Sasuke sighed. It was true that he owed his best friend. He figured he probably owed Naruto his life given how he had saved Sasuke from completely ruining it. As far as he was concerned, writing all their case reports was nothing, and he'd gladly do it. Not that he'd ever tell Naruto that.

"And to think a loser like you might become Prime Minister. When you do, remind me to move to Suna."

Naruto chuckled at this. As much as Sasuke ragged on him, very few were more supportive of his dream than his best friend. It hadn't always been that way, but after Naruto had managed to track Sasuke down and bring him back, he had become one of his biggest supporters, though he was very quiet about it. Small things would give it away though. For instance, Sasuke never said "If" Naruto became the Prime Minister, but "When."

Though he enjoyed Sasuke's snide remark, it didn't escape his notice that he seemed grumpier and more tired than usual. And tactless as always, Naruto decided to comment on it.

"Seriously though, you ok? You're pissyer than usual which is weird since you're officially done with your probation today. I would have figured you'd be happy. Well, if that's possible for you, I mean."

At this, Sasuke looked up from his report, his eyes landing on the only picture on his desk. It was from four years ago when they were rookies, still in a four-man squad instead of partners. A twenty-two-year-old Sasuke stood on the left casting an annoyed glance away from Naruto who was glaring at him on his right. Their teacher and captain, Kakashi Hatake, was standing behind them, a hand on each of their heads, ruffling their hair. And front and center was the young woman with pink hair. It was still long back then; the picture had been taken before she cut it. Her eyes were closed, long dark eyelashes hiding soft green irises. It had been 1,372 days since he'd last seen her.

"Still haven't talked to Sakura-chan, huh?" Naruto said, watching his friend intently.

"She's avoiding me."

Naruto was about to respond but was cut off by a light tug on his shirt and a soft, "Naruto-kun." He turned, a warm smile blossoming at the sight of his gentle girlfriend.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto greeted, his arms automatically wrapping around her in a gentle hug. "What are you doing over here? Do we have another joint case with Missing Persons?"

"Um, no, it's not that."

At those words, Sasuke turned back to his case report, finishing off the last pieces of information, tuning out the rest of the conversation. Sasuke liked Hinata well enough. As far as his colleagues went, he'd rather spend time with her than the vast majority of the others. And he wholeheartedly approved of her and Naruto. She was a good influence on him and seemed to be the only one capable of calming him down in any situation. But it annoyed him that in the past four months since he'd been back, the female he'd seen the most of was Hinata and not Sakura. It annoyed him that when Naruto dragged him to Ramen Bars after work, it was Hinata taking up the third bar stool, or when he and Naruto were doing some close combat practice, it was Hinata's pale gray eyes watching instead of Sakura's mint green ones.

"Anyways, Lady Tsunade wants to see you and Sasuke-kun in her office."

"You hear that, Bastard? Grandma wants to see us in her office, which either means we're in big trouble, or we've got a new case!" Naruto exclaimed enthusiastically, thumping Sasuke on the back.

Sasuke sighed and slipped the newly finished case report into a folder before standing up. "And why can't it be both, idiot."

"See, my optimisms rubbing off on you already!" Naruto beamed, turning a blinding smile to a giggling Hinata. "I'll see you at home, Hinata-chan!"

She blushed and gave a small wave good bye as Naruto marched off followed by an infinitely more poised Sasuke.

* * *

"Took you long enough, Moron!" Tsunade snapped as soon as the door opened.

"Speaking of being pissyer than usual…" Sasuke heard Naruto mutter under his breath.

Tsunade glared at him, before turning her sharp gaze on Sasuke, her lips forming a grim line. Sasuke returned her gaze with a blank stare. He understood her distaste for him. He had proven himself to be a liability on several fronts and she had enough to worry about as it was. She was Prime Minister of Konoha. And she was the chief of police, no one else being qualified for the role, although she delegated most of the work to Kakashi, who was the second in command. She was also the head of the hospital, that having been her job before her taking the role of Prime Minister. Much like how Kakashi handled the majority of the work at the police department, Shizune and Tsunade's beloved apprentice, Sakura, generally took care of all the work at the hospital. Tsunade would only step in for both the police or the hospital if it was an extreme emergency or crisis. And Sasuke had a lot of respect for the amount of work that she did and how well she kept things running.

Tsunade eyed the case file in Sasuke's hand before letting out a weary sigh. "Alright you two, listen up." Naruto turned serious as Tsunade stood up behind her desk, grimly opening a case file. "At 10pm last night a body was found on the outskirts on Konoha. The body was…severely disfigured." She flicked the case file across the desk and Sasuke and Naruto immediately moved in for a closer look. Naruto paled and Sasuke felt his stomach turn. Disfigured might not have been the right word. This body had been experimented on, in nauseating ways. Even if the death itself hadn't been a violent crime, everything else done to the body had been. "If this is who I suspect it is, there'll be a lot more bodies like this one."

"Who do you suspect?" Naruto asked, his voice hushed from horror.

"Orochimaru," the name hung heavy in the air, "though there's no proof of it yet. He was a classmate of mine. And brilliant. But he was power thirsty and it drove him mad." She looked down at the file again, her expression unreadable. "I almost didn't want to give this case to you, but I don't have much of a choice. You two are the best in Violent Crimes, and even before, squad 7 was one of the best we had."

Despite the greusome case they were facing Naruto smiled. He always loved when he and his team, whether it was just him and Sasuke or squad 7 on the whole, got recognized for their hard and well done work. Sasuke on the other hand felt something clench in his chest. Squad 7 had been one of the best, but they weren't squad 7 anymore. They were missing a key member. There was also something else about Tsunade's previous statement that flagged in his mind.

"Why didn't you want to give this case to us?" He asked, watching the police chief closely.

"If it is who I think it is, he is rumored to have ties with the criminal organization known as the Akatsuki." Sasuke stiffened at the name. "The same criminal organization that Itachi Uchiha is a supposed member of." Her eyes were fixed on Sasuke, watching for any sign that he might snap. "Can you handle it, Uchiha?"

"If you're thinking I'll go off like three years ago, you're mistaken. And I won't let this distract me from catching the culprit, Akatsuki affiliations or not. Make no mistake, I want Itachi to pay for his crimes, but I no longer have any intention of letting him turn me into a criminal in the process." Sasuke replied, levelly, though he felt the familiar surge of white hot anger pound through him persistently at the mere mention of his brother.

Tsunade gave a stern nod while Naruto beamed. "Well come on then! We've got a psycho mad scientist killer to catch!" Naruto yelled. He made to snatch the case file but Tsunade's hand slammed down on top of it.

"Wait a second Naruto! I haven't—"

She was cut off by the door opening. "You wanted to speak so me, M'lady?"

Sasuke's eyes went wide upon hearing her voice. He wasn't all that surprised to find that the rage still rushing through his veins instantly calmed at the sound of her voice. She had always had that effect on him. He turned to see her for the first time in 1,372 days, eyes still wide with the fact that the woman he had been trying to see and talk to for the past four months was now standing right there. Immediately, his wide eyes met her startled ones.

"Ah Sakura. Glad you're finally here," Lady Tsunade said with a smile.


	2. Chapter 2

Sakura was having yet another very long day. She had been on call the night before and had to come in for an emergency surgery when one of her patients went into cardiac arrest. That had been at 2am. After that surgery which was rife with complications, though ultimately successful thanks to her immense skill and calm, she went to finish the paper work for the patient and by the time that was complete her shift had officially started. The day had been fairly calm until 11am when the ER filled up with severely wounded car crash victims. There was barely anytime to breathe as she hurried around checking patients, issuing orders, prescribing medications and bouncing from one operating room to another.

It was just after completing the operation to remove and stitch up shrapnel from a patient's liver, that she was informed Tsunade wanted to see her at the Police Department. The day had been fine up until that point. Long but fine. Sakura never minded when it was busy. It made her feel useful. Knowing she was actively saving lives made hers feel a little less lonely and incomplete. It wasn't the fact that Tsunade wanted to see her that sent her day spiraling downward. She and her mentor were very close and she actually very much enjoyed her interactions with the older woman. The problem was that she was being called to the police department, the place she had been actively avoiding for the past four months.

She stopped in her office to grab her coat and bag but her attention suddenly caught on the picture at her desk. Picking it up, she stared into the annoyed faces of twenty-two-year-old Naruto and Sasuke. Her heart clenched as she stared at the picture. She knew she missed them both. Naruto was the sibling she never had and she felt guilty that she rarely saw him in the past four months, but that was because he was always either with Hinata or Sasuke. She didn't want to be a third wheel or pull Naruto away from Hinata, given how long her shy friend had waited for him to notice her. Naruto had a lot of lost time to make up for. And she wasn't ready to face Sasuke yet. While she missed him so much that part of her felt incomplete, every thought of him brought forth a wave of pain so strong it actually translated into physical hurt. Setting the picture down and taking a deep breath, she marched out her office door.

* * *

The Hospital, police department, and city hall were all within one block of each other, and long before she was ready, Sakura found herself standing in front of the building she had worked so hard to avoid. Resignedly, she started up the steps, hell bent on walking in with as much pride as possible, but fully aware of the embarrassing lengths she would go to avoid running into the top pair from violent crimes.

"No way! Sakura actually set foot outside the hospital, huh?" A loud voice barked the second she came through the doors. She couldn't help the smile that made it way to her face as Kiba came running up to her as if to confirm the unbelievable. Akamaru reached her first, jumping up and licking her face happily.

"Whoa! You got big, Akamaru!" She laughed, petting his head.

"Really? I Hadn't noticed, since he's always with me." Kiba said, as Akamaru resumed his place at his side like the good police dog he was. "So what brings you here Sakura? Finally gonna take me up on my offer for drinks?"

The look she gave him was enough of an answer, but he took the rejection in stride—it certainly wasn't the first time Sakura had turned him or any other guy down. All Konoha men knew the infinitesimal chance they had with Sakura had vanished the second Sasuke came back. So Kiba simply shrugged at his long time friend. "Can't fault a guy for trying."

Sakura laughed. She had missed him and everyone else a lot. Almost all of them worked at the police station. When she had left the force to study medicine, she had left all of her friends behind as well. She used to try and get together with them more, but in the four months Sasuke had been back, avoiding him meant avoiding everyone else as well.

"So what brings you here?"

"Lady Tsunade wanted to see me…Hey Kiba, Sasuke isn't at his desk, is he?"

That was a large source of her anxiety. To reach Lady Tsunade's office, you had to go through the bull pen, the open space where all the detectives in every unit had their desks and everyone could see everything. There would be no way to hide and if he saw her, she'd have to confront him and she wasn't ready for that.

Kiba sighed, "How long are you gonna avoid him? You'll have to see him eventually. And what's the big deal? I know you liked him and all but you two were just friends. We've all forgiven him so why can't you?

For the second time that day Sakura felt lungs tighten so hard they burned. She wasn't sure which was worse, the sudden swell of rage she felt towards Sasuke and Kiba, or the pain that pulsed through her with every heartbeat. Kiba could tell he'd made a mistake the second the words were out of his mouth. "Uh…I mean—"

"Is he at his desk or not."  
Kiba scanned around the corner quickly, before returning to Sakura with a "No, he's not there." Akamaru barked in confirmation.

"Thanks." Sakura said, turning the corner and making her way through the maze of desks she once knew so well.

* * *

Sakura didn't knock when she reached her mentor's large wooden door. She didn't have to. Tsunade and her were close enough to drop that kind of formality, especially if Tsunade had asked her to come. "You wanted to speak to me M'Lady?"

The only reason the words had come out so calmly were because she hadn't processed the scene in front of her. There, in front of her mentor's desk stood Naruto and Sasuke, whose eyes immediately locked on to hers.

"Ah Sakura. Glad you're finally here."

Sakura ripped her green eyes away from Sasuke and on to the open file that lay on Tsunade's desk. A sinking feeling in her stomach told her that her day was about to go from pretty bad to downright terrible.

"Sakura Haruno, you're here by removed from active hospital duty. You will be serving as the Medical Examiner for this case as well as an active medical and forensic consultant."

She could feel Sasuke's eyes boring deep into her but she refused to look at him.

"But M'Lady, what about the hospital? We're so busy I couldn't possibly step away now. Besides another doctor could—"

"No Sakura. This case is…it's something else. Whoever is doing this, especially if it's who I suspect, has immense medical and scientific knowledge that we'll need to match on our side if we have any chance of bringing him down. You were trained as a detective first, have experience in the field, and have firearm and hand to hand combat training. You're also an extremely skilled field medic, which given the nature of this case, will probably become necessary far more than I'd like. You're the only one who can do this. Shizune and I will take care of the hospital."

There was no point in arguing, Tsunade's orders were final. And Sakura knew her mentor loved her like a daughter and was not a fan of Sasuke. She would never force the two of them on to a team unless it was absolutely necessary.

"I…Yes M'Lady I understand."

"This won't be a problem will it?" The question was vague and could have been about the job on the whole, but Sakura could tell that Tsunade was referring to her and Sasuke from the way Tsunade's honey colored eyes flicked briefly to him before settling back on her.

"No Ma'am." Sakura was a professional. She took her responsibility as a doctor and civil servant very seriously. No personal issues would get in the way of that. She determined that no matter what she felt or how complicated things were with Sasuke, She'd do her job well.

"Good. Then there's nothing more to talk about. You're all dismissed. Get to work."


	3. Chapter 3

"Sakura, wait." She had bolted out of the room quickly and was tearing down the hallway too fast. Sasuke growled impatiently, catching up and grabbing her arm to stop her.

"Why are you avoiding me?"

"I'm not avoiding you."

"Bullshit." She wasn't even looking him in the eye and she had the nerve to try and claim that she wasn't avoiding him? "You suck at lying Sakura."

"Only to you." Her voice was quiet and she still wasn't looking at him. He almost missed what she said.

"What?"

Sakura looked up at him sharply. "I'm not bad at lying. You're the only one who seems to know when I am. Not even Naruto, or Ino-chan, or Kakashi-sensei can tell. You're one of the only ones. Guess you just know me better than my best friends, huh?"

"Of course I know you, we were teammates. and we were friends."

Sakura's glare somehow seemed to intensify to a degree that he almost felt burn him. Reflexively he took a step back.

"Friends? No Sasuke-kun. We weren't friends. Kiba and I are friends. Shikamaru and I are friends. We hang out and get drinks occasionally, or play shogi and catch up. They don't know when I'm lying. Ino-chan and I are best friends. We make a point of seeing each other at least one a week, and are constantly texting each other updates. She doesn't know when I'm lying—sometimes she does but most of the time, not. Naruto are I are practically siblings. He has no clue when I'm lying to him—"

"Naruto's an idiot so of course he wouldn't—"

"My point Sasuke-kun, is if my friends—my best friends—can't tell that I'm lying and you can, then what exactly are you to me?"

Any answer Sasuke had died on his tongue. They were friends, they had always been friends, or so he thought. But in the breakdown she just gave of her relationships, none seemed to match what they had been. He became painfully aware that they were in a public hallway and that this conversation was definitely a private one. "…Maybe we should discuss this somewhere else."

"Now look who's avoiding—"

"I'm not avoiding anything," Sasuke snapped, "but this conversation is a private one, so we should discuss this somewhere pri—"

Somehow both helping and hindering his point, Hinata rounded the corner that minute and spotted them. "Sakura-chan!" She called out. Sakura turned to face Hinata, a warm smile replacing her angry glare. "Hey Hinata-chan! It's been a while!"

"It has! Sakura-chan, come get Ramen with Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, and I later! It's been so long since you've come out with us, you've been so busy at the hospital."

"I know! I'm sorry. But Lady Tsunade actually just put me on a field case here so you'll be seeing a lot more of me!" She spoke like she was happy about it, but Sasuke could hear the barely audible rasp that her voice got whenever something was stressing her out. Sakura had been a gold medal gymnast for the greater part of her teens, and still had the skills now. Good posture came naturally to her and normally her shoulders held very little tension. But he could see how tightly she was holding her arms and shoulders, even from under her hospital scrubs. It was so well hidden, that Hinata Hyuga of missing persons, with the sharp eyes and the skills of a profiler, didn't seem to pick up on it.

"Really? That's amazing! congratulations! Now you really must join us for Ramen!"

Apparently it was only clear to Sasuke how stressed Sakura was with this development. She hadn't been kidding when she said he was one of very few people who could actually tell when she was lying.

"Ah man! I'd really love to Hinata! But it's been a long time since I've been out in the field, so there's a lot of stuff I have to review. Raincheck?"

"Oh! Of course! I'm sorry, I didn't even think about that. Next time then!"

Sakura gave Hinata another smile before turning to Sasuke. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke watched the barely noticeable tension lines in her back as she walked off.

* * *

Sasuke stirred his Ramen pensively. Naruto was on his right explaining the details of their new case to Hinata. "Damn bastard I thought you'd be happy! You're off probation, we got a new huge case, you saw Sakura-chan, she's joining our team again. Everything's perfect so what's with the gloomy look? You'd think I peed on your cat or something."

"It amazes me you ever got a girlfriend you revolting loser."

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata sighed, blushing and looking away.

The blonde laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry Hinata-chan." But then he turned to Sasuke seriously, "But really, what's wrong?"

"Were Sakura and I friends?"

"Well yeah. What else would you be?"

"Hn…"

"I mean, she did have that crush on you for a while, but she mellowed out with that part…"

"What made you ask, Sasuke-kun? Did Sakura-chan say something when you two were talking earlier?"

_No Sasuke-kun. We weren't friends. _Her words from earlier rang in his head for the thousandth time since she'd spoken them. _What exactly are you to me? _Sasuke wasn't the kind to talk about his feelings. But Hinata was female and might have valuable insight to the situation. If anything this was information gathering.

"She was talking about the relationship she has with her other friends." Now that he thought about it, almost everyone Sakura had listed as a friend was male, which was oddly irritating. "None of what she described sounded like the way we were."

"Well how were you two?"

Sasuke looked back at his half finished Ramen and gave it a stir before pushing it over to Naruto to finish. He interlaced his fingers and rested his head on them in thought. When they were a four man squad, Kakashi used to pair them off to tackle cases from different angles. The pairs would always get switched up, but it felt like Kakashi had paired him and Sakura the most frequently. He figured that's when their relationship really began.

"If one of us pulled an all nighter, the other would get them coffee and sometimes breakfast. She had less money than me, so I bought her lunch or dinner. We'd recommend books to each other and talk about them. We used to leave coded sticky note messages to each other. I helped her with her fire arm and hand to hand combat training cause she sucked at it. She'd pick me up from bars if I got wasted and would get me home. I crashed at her place a couple of times when you and I had to work late. I used to always take her home, and if I couldn't, I'd text her to make sure. We'd talk…"

He trailed off when he felt more than saw Naruto and Hinata's strange expressions. Sasuke's mouth felt dry. "What?" He asked, reaching for the water.

"Well bastard, it's just that some of that stuff sounds a bit like what Hinata-chan and I do with each other."

Sasuke nearly choked on his water. The insinuation was obvious, but it was never something he'd thought much about. At the time, it just felt right, and in the four months he had been back, he'd missed that relationship. But he never thought about Sakura romantically—at least he never thought he did. That train of thought was derailed by a more immediate realization. "Why do you sound so surprised, Idiot? You were there."

"Yeah, but I just figured our team was really close. Whenever you guys were partnered I was usually out working with Kakashi-Sensei. So I didn't see most of it. You usually left dinners right after she did, but never together and you never told me about it!"

"…And she never mentioned it?"

"Sakura-chan never mentioned details about working with you. When ever Ino-chan, TenTen-chan, or I asked about it, all she said was that you two were partnered together often and that she thought you two made a good team."

A good team. Yeah, the two of us had made a good team, Sasuke thought. The case they were put on was a big one. And a disturbing one. To solve it with as minimal psychological scaring as possible, they'd need to make a good team again.

Sasuke abruptly stood up and headed for the exit.

"Where are you going?" Naruto called after him.

"You're a detective, you figure it out."


	4. Chapter 4

Sakura had returned to the hospital after her uncomfortable conversation with Sasuke. If she was to be working at the police station now, there were some things she needed from her office, namely resource books. Texts on genetic engineering, cellular biology, epigenetics, and transplants all sat in a brown cardboard moving box. Sakura studied the contents before turning to her bookshelf and grabbing a few more books on behavioral brain chemistry, poisons, and medical law and ethics.

This case was particularly upsetting to her. She had studied the crime scene photos and even from one look it was obvious that the one who did this had extensive medical knowledge and no regard for human life. Sakura valued life more than anything, and the Hippocratic Oath may as well have been her religion. Those who took on the task of learning the human body had the responsibility to use that knowledge to help others. She couldn't wait to get this guy behind bars.

She'd do the autopsy later, and it made her more nervous than she'd like. As a doctor who'd once been a violent crimes detective, she'd seen a lot. But those crime scene photos were grotesque beyond anything she'd seen before. Getting a close up three dimensional rendering of that body wasn't something she was particularly looking forward to.

She was disturbed from her thoughts by a knock on the door.

"Sakura-San?" Sakura looked up in surprise at the bespectacled silver haired man standing in the doorway.

"Kabuto-senpai!"

"Bit strange for you to keep calling me that. Yes, I'm older—but you outrank me." He laughed.

"Yes, but you still worked here longer than I have, so you've got seniority. So what brings you here?"

Kabuto eyed the cardboard box and her mostly empty desk. Usually her desk was covered in stacks of patient files and paperwork, the last time it had been that clean was when she had moved in. "Since you're going on leave, your patients needed to be reassigned. I've got a few or your cases and I need your sign off on the transfer."

"Right. Of course." She looked at the cases he handed her and hesitated. These were her patients. They placed their trust in her and she thought of them as her responsibility. "Something wrong, Sakura-san?"

"Hm? Oh no. Sorry…just…separation anxiety." She flashed him a placating smile before signing off on the patient transfer forms. "Take good care of them. Especially Ageha. She's just a little girl…" Kabuto gave her a curious look and opened up the girl's file. "Aren't doctors supposed to be emotionally removed from their cases?"

"We're also supposed to care and be sensitive towards our patients."

"Yes but…you're listed as the emergency contact."

"She's an orphan with no family. No one would take responsibility for her. As her doctor, it only makes sense that I be the emergency contact."

"I guess. You're incredibly kind and empathetic Sakura-san. I hope that doesn't end up getting you hurt."

Her eyes dropped to the picture on her desk. She let out a dry laugh, grabbing it and throwing it into the cardboard box with her books. "Too late."

* * *

Sakura set the cardboard box down on her old-new desk. It was amazing how little had changed in the KPD. Staring at her desk, across from Naruto's and Sasuke's, a warm nostalgia rushed through her. The bridge builder assassination threat, the gato crime syndicate, Gara's psychotic break, the Todoroki mob wars. There were so many cases that her team had closed. As much as she loved hospital work, there wasn't a team supporting her. And Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke weren't just a team, they were her older brother, younger brother and…her…something. Even she didn't really know what they were. What they had been. As much as she had called him out on it earlier, she herself didn't have the answer. She knew what she always had wanted them to be since their days at the police academy, and while it had seemed like it sometimes in the past, she wasn't sure. She glanced over at Sasuke and Naruto's desks to see that both had the old Squad 7 picture proudly displayed. For Naruto that wasn't that surprising, but she was kind of shocked to see it on Sasuke's. _They must of missed it as much as I did, _she thought. They always had been an unusually tight knit team.

She hoped they would be able to close this case soon. The thought of doing the autopsy was filling her stomach with dread. "Oh come on Sakura" She muttered to herself, "Let's just get it over with." She turned, ready to head to the morgue and nearly jumped at the sight of Sasuke standing at his desk facing her.

"When'd you get here?"

Instead of answering his eyes fell on the one item she had unloaded, her picture of Squad 7. "You still have it…"

"So do you." She kept her face carefully blank, and was mildly annoyed at how easily Sasuke saw through it. Where anyone else would have seen a complete mask of apathy, she could tell that he saw the small sliver of hope in her eyes that she was terrified of losing.

"No matter how blinded I was by rage, I couldn't throw you away…either of you." He tacked the last part on hurriedly, looking uncomfortable, but Sakura felt that small sliver of hope grow a little. It was the first time in a very long time that she saw Sasuke look so vulnerable. It reminded her of the first time he had opened up to her about the night his family had been massacred.

"No matter how emotionally wounded I was, neither could I."

There was a long silence, neither of them breaking eye contact. The air around her felt charged, like standing in a thunder cloud.

"Sakura—"

She suddenly felt her stomach drop into her feet. She wasn't sure what he was about to say but she was too nervous to hear it. She needed to get out of there.

"I need to go do the autopsy." It was the first thing her mind supplied. Who knew all the motivation she needed to get the autopsy started was Sasuke attempting to converse with her.

"I'll come with you."

"You can't!" She said quickly. At his questioning eyes, she swallowed uncomfortably. "It's against regulation…"

"I meant I'm walking you there…"

Oh. shit. The last thing she needed was for Sasuke to see her discomfort about the autopsy. She didn't want him to still think of her as weak. But it was clear there'd be no dissuading him. So she simply sighed, and began to walk, feeling his presence fall into step next to her.

* * *

Sasuke walking her to the morgue was…weird. She had assumed that he would have tried to start talking to her again. To say whatever she had stopped him from saying before. But he didn't. He just walked quietly in step with her. She kept trying to ignore the way her heart felt like it would break her rib cage from the inside out. It helped that she knew for a fact as a medical professional that it would be impossible for the human heart to do that in the first place. How was just his presence able to do this to her? She felt it incredibly unfair, given that she didn't have the same effect on him. It also annoyed her that something about having him there was comforting, the way it had been once before. Now, that she thought about it, he used to do this all the time. It was another aspect of their relationship that always made her feel there was more going on then just "friends."

Whenever she had reports to drop off, copies to make, coffee to get, he'd always walk with her. Most of those walks were in silence but they had always been comfortable. Of course they'd go to crime scenes together or to take statements, talk to witnesses and what not—that had all been done as a team so of course they'd go together. But he'd accompany her on the small individual in-office tasks that could be done alone.

She shook her head in an attempt to clear it. She didn't have time for these kinds of thoughts. She had to mentally prep herself for the most disturbing autopsy she'd hopefully ever have to do—that is, if they caught this guy before another body dropped. Apparently Sasuke had noticed the movement and her rising anxiety because he was now staring down at her intently.

"What?"

"Something about this autopsy is bothering you. What is it? I know it's not because you're…squeamish."

She blinked up at him in surprise. Last time he knew her, she never wanted to get too close to corpses when they went to examine crime scenes. "How do you know that?"

"You're a doctor."

"Means nothing. I know plenty of doctors who are squeamish. Lady Tsunade used to be haemophobic. She still get's occasional flair ups."

"I saw you."

"Yeah, you're gonna need to elaborate on that." This conversation was so oddly blank, from their expressions to their tone. They may as well have been stating random facts. But the rhythm of it was the same as the banter they used to have with each other. A quick, sharp, playful rhythm, like knocking over dominos.

"I visited the hospital two weeks after I came back and had yet to see you. I was about to ask for you when an emergency patient was wheeled in. You were straddling him, holding his intestines inside his body while issuing orders to the other doctors and nurses around you."

She remembered that patient. He'd slept with the wrong wealthy elite's daughter from Kirigakure, and they'd sent an assassin after him. The guy had sliced deep right across his stomach and left him to die. He would have if it hadn't been for the fifty-two hour surgery, gallons of blood, and Sakura. Tsunade had told her afterwards that if anyone else had been his doctor, he wouldn't have made it.

"You saw that?"

"You're not squeamish. What's bothering you?"

"For a body to get like this…this man was tortured, brutally. Worse than that…He was an experiment…and…" She shook her head. The rest was speculation. As a professional, she shouldn't say anything until she confirmed it. But in her gut she knew for a fact whoever did this had extensive medical knowledge, and was probably fully trained as a doctor.

"You're still too soft."

"What was that?" Sakura growled. But when she looked in Sasuke's eyes, there wasn't any sign of judgment, superiority or condescension. In fact, they seemed…warm. It caught her so off guard that she almost tripped. They had reached the morgue and almost immediately, thoughts of the body chased this strange and distracting interaction with Sasuke out of her mind.

"How long will it take?"

"2 or 3 hours. Probably."

Sasuke nodded. "Naruto and I will be checking with missing persons to see if they have any record of this guy. We'll check the crime scene after your report."

She nodded and pushed open the doors, not looking back at him as it swung shut behind her.

* * *

Sakura got to work immediately after tying her hair up. She wanted to finish this as quickly as possible. The body lay on the table before her, and if the pictures had made her nauseated, the sight of the actual body in front of her made bile burn the back of her throat. Its skin was grey and leathery—undoubtedly human skin but at the same time not entirely. The eyes were cloudy grey but the sclera were yellow. Under normal circumstances, between the skin discoloration and the yellow eyes she would have determined liver failure, but given the amount of severe experimentation done, she wasn't sure that was the right call. Where there should have been human hands, there were something closer to claws. The fingers were disproportionately long, and the nails longer, stronger, and far shaper than any human nails. Patches of scraggily brown hair protruded from the backs of the hands and at the finger joints. She opened its mouth and noted that the canine teeth were abnormally long, more like fangs. In fact, all of the teeth were unnaturally sharp. The arches of the feet were abnormally high and the balls and toes abnormally long. Even in death, the legs wouldn't fully straighten, still maintaining a slight bend to the knee, and the thighs were densely muscled. Worst of all was the small, uneven papery bat-like wings that were protruding from the back of the shoulder blades. The skin was drawn so tight across them that she could see every small, fine bone that served as the wing frame. Sakura wondered if the right wing was larger than the left because the right was the dominant side. Regardless, wings like that would have never been able to work on a body this size. What was most unnerving about them was that they weren't sewn on, these wings had sprouted from this body on their own, which should have been impossible.

Swallowing hard, she immediately began looking for the cause of death. Blunt force trauma to the head and blood under the claws indicated that there had been some sort of struggle, but that wasn't the cause of death. Ligature marks around the wrists proved that the body had been tied up, although they weren't consistent with rope marks. They were more like bruises left by manacles, with heavier bruising at the back of the wrists. He must have been bound to a wall for the markings to be left that way. She took its finger prints, clipped samples of the nails, hair, teeth, skin and blood for DNA screening, as well as the blood from under its nails. During her careful look through of the body, she also found a purple fibers along its waist line and under its nail, and iron powder in-between its toes.

When she opened the cadaver up was when she was able to find the cause of death. The lungs were so enlarged that they had not only crushed the heart but also ruptured themselves from pushing against the ribcage too hard.

The results from all of the blood tests she was running were staggering. The amount of cortisol present in his blood stream had been four times higher than the amount that would trigger a heart attack in a normal human. Its white blood cell count was incredibly low, but its antibody count was obscenely high. Most disturbing of all however, was its DNA. The human genome should have presented its self in a double helix—two stands of DNA. But this genome wasn't human. There was a third strand present and all three strands were a messy splice of animal and human genes. The experiments done to this body had been done on a genetic level. Someone was messing with the laws of basic evolution. And it shook her, viscerally. The nausea she'd fought against for the past 2 hours attacked in a vengeful wave and she barely made it to the bathroom in time.

Once her stomach was empty, she found that she couldn't be in the same room as the body any longer. Grabbing her full report, she ran out of the morgue, pressed herself against the cool hallway wall and slid down, pulling her knees to her chest and burying her face in her arms. The monster responsible for this was breaking the laws of evolution and hugely abusing their knowledge. It terrified her. But more than that, it royally pissed her off.

She could feel her blood boiling with rage, the twitching in her forearms as they were flooded with the desire to punch the bastard's face in. She had always been fairly quick to anger, but training under Tsunade had increased that by ten. In the recent years, whenever Sakura felt afraid, she'd gotten angry instead. Fear was the bodies braking system, and it was necessary. But Sakura had been held back by fear for too long. Now when faced with a terrifying situation, Sakura used anger, which she had an easier time controlling and working with, to power through. Which is exactly what she was doing now. Having acknowledged how terrifying this case was, she was now overrun by pure rage, which she was taking steadying breaths to get under control.

That was the state Sasuke found her in.

* * *

**Author's note: **Originally I ended this before their walk to the morgue but when I went to post it I realized that was waaaay shorter than I thought. So I went through the autopsy, which I dreaded writing. It's disgusting to think about and I don't know if I was too graphic or not graphic enough in my writing but it was plenty disturbing in my head.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** I rated this 'M' for violence, disturbing themes, language, and maybe sex (we'll see haven't gotten that far yet, writing sex scenes is awkward). Anyway, this chapter has a lot of violence, so trigger warning.

* * *

After parting ways with Naruto and Hinata, Sasuke had opted to walk back to the department instead of taking a cab. He needed to clear his head. This case was big and it was _bad._ Just one look at the file and he knew this was going to have ties to crimes against humanity, human trafficking, human experimentation, murder, kidnapping, assault and who knows how many other charges. Not to mention if the Akatsuki was involved. That added another complicated layer. Organized crime was always harder to take down. Organized crime also had squads and teams. Team vs. team was harder to bust than team vs. individuals. And if there was a connection to Itachi—Sasuke's rage raced through him like a wildfire. His fingernails dug into his palms, dangerously close to breaking skin. He stopped walking taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. Pink hair and green eyes danced across his minds eye, exhaling the sound of her laughter. Immediately the oxygen was depleted from the fire, his rage dissipating into a numb calm, his clenched fist loosening. Sakura without fail always removed the ugliness that fueled his anger.

He clearly remembered the first time it happened:

_"Dosu Kinuta, Zaku Abumi, and Kin Tsuchi. These three have been implicated in several rapes, assaults, and thefts in North Konoha. They're violent behavior seems to be escalating. We have to catch them." _

_"Alright let's get these bastards!" Naruto jumped up._

_"Slow down Naruto," Kakashi sighed wearily, "they are incredibly difficult to find. They only come out to cause trouble and then seemingly disappear." _

_"Well then what are we gonna do?"_

_"We'll work this case from two angles. Naruto, you and I will talk to victims and witnesses and see what how much detail they can remember. Sasuke, you and Sakura will look into the three's backgrounds. Figure out who they are. Check for CCTV footage of all the crimes."_

_"Right." All three said in unison. Naruto jumped up excitedly."Let's get a move on Kakashi-sensei!" He yelled, pulling him from the briefing room. Sakura Smiled at Sasuke, who felt his annoyance spike at being stuck with this pink haired princess who spent more of her time in the academy trying to flirt with him then focus on her training. _

_"I guess we're partners this time, Sasuke-kun." And she had contributed almost nothing in their last two cases._

_"Hn don't bother. Keep your useless self out of my way." And with that he stalked off. _

But Sakura had been anything but useless on that case. While Sasuke poured over every record of them alone, Sakura had gone and spoke to the people that used to know them, and found out how they met at an underground metal concert in NoKo. She had then cross referenced that with the CCTV footage they had, and saw how they seemed to come out of and disappear into nowhere. How all the crimes were committed within a ten-block radius, and how all the crimes had been committed just off of streets with manholes. She had been the one to put two and two together. The concert they met at had literally been underground. And that was what they were using as their hideout. Sasuke wasn't at his desk, and they just received a report of a girl who had gone off with three individuals matching their targets descriptions. She didn't have time to lose, so she went off alone.

_Sasuke came back frustrated from digging up more records on the three but still being no where near finding them. It annoyed him even more that his supposed partner wasn't at her desk. She should at least have the decency to pretend she was doing something useful. His mood fouled even more when he heard that a girl had gone off with their targets, which was how all the rapes they were implicated in had started. Their violent tendencies were escalating, so that girl had the potential to become their first murder. What a time for his useless teammate to decide to one up herself. Aggravated, he stomped over to her desk intent on ripping up whatever notebook she must have been vandalizing his name in for the past twenty six hours, when he stopped short. CCTV footage was paused on her computer screen, on her desk was a map with all of the crime scenes marked with an X, and random other points not far from the crime scenes, circled. There was a city planners map underneath it that had red lines connecting to where the circles were on the other map. And in the notebook he assumed would be covered with his name, was her tiny, tight looped hand writing—field notes—with one word highlighted. "Underground." Sasuke's eyes widened in shock. She'd figured it out. The shock was quickly replaced by dread. She'd gone after them. And guilt. Alone. He was out of the building, in the car and speeding to NoKo in record time._

_He knew he was close when he saw her car. which ever manhole she was parked closest to was where she was—and where they were. He was out of the car and dialing Kakashi in an instant, running around desperately trying to find the manhole. _

_"Sakura found them. Underground. NoKo sewer system. Hurry." He hung up before Kakashi could say anything. He needed to find her._

_And he did. Dropping down the closest manhole he sprinted down the tunnel following the echoing sounds of yelling. The tunnel opened into a cavern, it must have been underneath an intersection. There was Sakura—on all fours, bleeding, bruised, and breathing hard—positioned in front of an unconscious girl. Her pink hair was cut short and uneven, the long strands on the floor near the feet of Dosu, Zaku, and Kin, who were all glaring down hard at her. Zaku pulled a boot knife out of his arm, blood staining the sleeve around the wound. Sakura must have done that._

_"You'll pay for that, bitch!" Zaku yelled, suddenly grabbing her by the front of her shirt and slamming her against the wall, holding the knife to her neck. "If you're so eager to protect that slut, you can just take her place," he growled, leaning closer, his eyes trailing up and down her body. "You're quite the snack," he smirked. _

_"And you're a filthy piece of trash. No wonder you resorted to force. No one would ever sleep with you willingly" Sakura snapped back, her eyes filled with fierce determination. _

_His partner had proved him wrong. She wasn't a useless vapid flirt who cared more about her looks and his than she did her duty. She was an incredibly intelligent and resourceful outside the box thinker. She was someone who would rather run into danger alone than waste time waiting for backup. She was someone who would face off against three opponents she had no prayer of beating to protect a helpless civilian. She was someone who would glare down an enemy threat in a weakened and vulnerable state, and hurl withering insults to keep all their anger and attention on her rather than the girl she was trying to protect. _

_Sasuke's rage exploded in a way it hadn't since his brother murdered his family. He was behind Zaku in seconds, twisting the filthy hand that had been stroking Sakura's thigh behind his back and pointing his gun at his temple. "Drop the knife." Sasuke's voice was terrifyingly low. Sakura's eyes went wide._

_"S-Sasuke-kun?"_

_"Sasuke? So you're the Uchiha. bit more believable that you're KPD's finest than this dumb bitch." Zaku sneered knife still poised at Sakura's neck._

_"Drop the knife." Sasuke repeated. Pushing the gun harder against Zaku's temple._

_"Please, you won't shoot me. You KPD pigs are too soft—" he was cut off by a loud bang that echoed around the cavern. Dose dropped to the ground screaming, holding his leg which bled profusely from the gun shot. Sasuke returned his gun to Zaku's temple. _

_"Last chance." Sasuke growled. Zaku dropped the knife from Sakura's throat and she immediately limped away to go check on the unconscious girl. Because she was someone who cared more about the wellbeing of others than that of herself. Sasuke's rage surged through him with renewed force. He wanted Zaku to hurt for all the pain he caused Sakura. The second she was clear of them, Sasuke twisted Zaku's other arm behind his back, forcing him to drop the knife, and slammed him into the wall so fast with so much force that his nose broke. He rammed him into the wall again for good measure and twisted his arm up so hard there was a sickening snap. Tossing the screaming man to the ground, he pointed his gun once more at Zaku fully ready to shoot him in every non-vital organ he could so that he would only know pain, when two soft strong arms wrapped around his torso. He turned to see two watery jade green eyes looking up at him, horrified. _

_"Please…Please stop, Sasuke-kun. Please stop." He felt the rage that had torn through him just moments before recede into whatever dark hole in his character it had erupted from. "He needs to go to trial. For all the people he's hurt. They need to see him go to trial." Her arms slowly untangled from him and she knelt next to Zaku, gently cuffing his arms, careful not to move the one Sasuke had broke. _

_"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…" _

_Sasuke just stared at her. Because his partner was someone who took her responsibility as a member of the KPD very seriously. _

Kakashi and Naruto had shown up not long after that and arrested the other two. It was after that case that the two of them started getting paired together more. That was when their relationship had really started. He shook his head to clear the memory, but instead was met with Naruto's words wringing in his ear.

_"Well bastard, it's just that some of that stuff sounds a bit like what Hinata-chan and I do with each other."_

The more he thought about it now the more it seemed true. But he wasn't sure if those were the nature of his feelings towards her. Or her towards him. She had a crush (bordering on infatuation) on him at one point while they were still in the academy, but by the time their relationship had started, she seemed long passed that. He knew he needed to talk it out with Sakura, and soon. She was the only one to ever calm him down and sooth his rampaging anger. This case was a bad one, one that might have ties to his brother. One that could spike his rage easily. He had told Tsunade he didn't want to let Itachi turn him into a criminal. He hadn't been lying, but he also wasn't sure that he had enough control over himself. Naruto had given him a wake up call, dragging him back from a very dark edge, but he knew he needed Sakura to keep him there. Which meant that he had to try and restore their relationship to some semblance of what it was before.

* * *

It had been his intention to talk to her about "Them" the second he saw her next, but one look at her and it was clear that it wasn't the right time for that conversation. She was tensed up, her head down, murmuring softly to herself. A habit he recognized from back then as well. She always used to give herself mini pep talks to force herself to do something, or mutter through what she was doing, as a way to keep herself focused on her task. He remembered how she used to have to talk herself into going near the corpses at crime scenes. Big leap for her to have become such a skilled doctor. He hadn't believed it as first.

When he returned, he'd been disappointed to hear that Sakura was no longer a member of the police force. But that was soon lost in the shock he felt hearing that she was now one of the head medics at Konoha University Hospital. The girl who was too grossed out by dead bodies couldn't have made for a successful doctor—this had to be some bad excuse to avoid him. So three weeks after returning, having not seen a whisper of Sakura, and still not believing that she was a doctor, he went to the hospital to check. And as he was about to ask the front desk for her, the lobby door burst open and in rolled a patient, guts nearly spilling out of his body. Straddling him was a pink haired woman in a white lab coat and scrubs, holding his intestines in. Short hair pulled up in a spiky ponytail, arms and shirt covered in blood, green eyes shining with determined focus, voice urgent but calm and controlled as she issued orders to the staff around her. It was an image of her that hadn't left his head since.

Suddenly he was looking into shocked wide green eyes. "When'd you get here?"

This was the other reason he couldn't talk to her now. She was still too skittish around him. That conversation would only go well if she was open to listening to him. Right now, when her guard was up, the conversation would get nowhere, certainly nowhere good at least. It might be like that forever though, he thought, until his eyes dropped to the photograph on her desk. It was the Squad 7 team picture. She'd kept it. And she hadn't cut him out of it or ex-ed out his face or scribbled over him. Their team still mattered to her, which meant on some level, he still mattered to her. "You still have it…"

"So do you." She fired back. Her face was a carefully blank mask of defiance but he could see the question riddled with hope hidden in her jade eyes. _Why?_

It wasn't the time for the conversation yet. She wasn't ready to have it. He could see that much. But he could at least lay the ground work for it. "No matter how blinded I was by rage, I couldn't throw you away…either of you." He felt so vulnerable with just that statement, that for the first time, he wondered if maybe he wasn't ready to have that conversation yet either. Maybe he needed to warm up to it too.

"No matter how emotionally wounded I was, neither could I."

There was a long pause and the mounting tension he felt building between them was confusingly exhilarating. He wasn't sure what but he had to say something to her.

"Sakura—"

"I need to go do the autopsy." The spell broke. The magnetic energy dissipated as quick as it's onset. But Sasuke wasn't ready to be out of her presence just yet. Today was the first day in 3 years and 10 months that he'd really seen her and spoken to her. Whatever they had been, whatever they were now, whatever they would be, there was no denying that she was someone he cared very dearly about. And that she was one of very few he actually craved interaction with. Interaction that he hadn't had for 1,372 days. So to prolong her presence for just a little longer he quickly supplied an, "I'll go with you."

"You can't!" The trace of panic in her voice caught him off guard as he fixed her with a questioning look. "It's against regulation." She said, her eyes dropping down and to the left.

"I meant I'm walking you there…"

It was what they used to do. He'd walk her places. Neither of them were ready for the conversation they needed to have, but maybe reestablishing some of their old patterns would help ease their way into it. Or piss Sakura off enough to force her into the confrontation. He was hoping for the former. Besides, something was bothering her, which he was pretty sure was related to the autopsy, and he wanted to find out what.

* * *

While the rhythm of their conversation was familiar and comforting, Sasuke was getting tired of how hard she was trying to change the subject. What was it about this autopsy that had her so freaked out? He knew he'd outmaneuvered her this time. In this pointless debate where she tried to convince him of something he knew to be no longer true about her, he played the hand she didn't know he had. That he had seen her hold a mans guts in. Now she had no choice but to come clean about what was bothering her.

"For a body to get like this…this man was tortured, brutally. Worse than that…He was an experiment…and…" of course that's what was bothering her. He knew that Sakura valued few things more than she did human life, and human dignity. It was why she had joined the police force. To protect and restore life and dignity to those it had been stolen from. It had been in the way she protected that girl in their first case partnered together. It had been in the way she'd stopped him from torturing Zaku. It had been one of the arguments she'd used the night she tried to stop him from leaving. Those values had probably strengthened through her work as a doctor. Of course this autopsy would bother her. This crime, what was done to that body, shat on all of the beliefs that made her tick.

"You're still too soft." She was far too kind for the ugliness in this world. He'd abused that kindness before, a mistake he'd rather die than repeat, but that didn't mean others wouldn't. It was never something he'd truly admonish her for though. That care she felt towards humanity was part of what made her Sakura.

"What was that? She growled. He almost laughed. Her temper was also part of what made her Sakura. She had always been short tempered but he supposed training with Tsunade had shortened that fuse even more.

He watched as she bit her bottom lip, anxiety filling her gaze as she stared at the doors separating her from the nightmare of a cadaver she had to cut open.

"How long will it take?"

"2 or 3 hours. Probably."

Which meant he'd be back down here to walk her back in two or three hours. Because it was what he would have done before and he was going to reestablish this part of their relationship. At least until they had their talk, or she chewed him out for it. But also because he knew that the autopsy would upset her. And he wasn't about to let her sit in that alone for one minute longer than protocol enforced.

* * *

Sure enough, two hours later, he found Sakura with her knees pulled up to her chest, head buried in her arms, folder clutched tightly in a knuckle white fist. He took a quiet step forwards, ready to kneel down and attempt to comfort her when she growled, "I'm gonna make that sick son of a bitch pay."

He froze. That was not at all what he had been expecting. Sakura took a deep breath and stood, a little shakily, her eyes burning like green fire. Also not what he had been expecting, he had figured she'd be crying.

She turned, everything about her posture to the look in her eye indicating that she was ready to march up to the briefing room, deliver her report and start hunting down leads. That is until—

"Jesus Christ!" She jumped at the sight of Sasuke. "When'd you get here?"

That was the second time she'd asked him that today. "Just in time for you to make that son of a bitch pay."

"We need to get you a cat bell," she muttered shaking her head.

"I'd rather waste one of my nine lives." He retorted dryly.

For one very brief second, she almost laughed. He saw the way her lips quirked up and her crinkled and her body relaxed. And then it was gone and her face was a carefully blank mask again. "Why are you here, Sasuke-kun?"

"You said you'd be done in two hours."

"So?"

"I came to walk you back." He read the question in her eyes, and found himself answering without her ever putting it into words. "I thought you might be upset."

He could read her inner turmoil from the way her shoulders relaxed and then tensed again, the way her arms had twitched to move to her chest before she caught herself and held them in place at her sides. "I'm not upset…Not in the way you thought I'd be."

"If you're the woman I know, there's no way you wouldn't be."

"Guess you don't know me as well as you thought you did."

"And yet I can still tell when you're lying."

"I'm not breakable like I was before."

"I never thought you were breakable."  
"Bullshit."

"Delicate."

"How's that different?"

The same familiar rhythm as before. That quick, playful, cause and effect, rhythm that they had whenever they spoke. They had fallen back into it so naturally. It gave him hope for the rest of their relationship as well. They were so close to that conversation, they were so close to stepping foot into that territory. But right now wasn't the time. Right now they were outside a morgue, where Sakura had conducted the most upsetting autopsy she'd ever done, with the most disturbing medical results she'd ever seen. Right now, they needed to get to a briefing on the results. Right now they had to focus on the case. This was not the time nor the place to have the conversation he needed to have with her. Which was why he had to break the rhythm now, before it all spilled out in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I'll tell you later." And before he could think about what he was doing, his middle and pointer finger reached out and tapped her on the forehead. He hadn't meant to, he surprised himself by the action.

Turning away from her shocked and confused face, and the flood of familial memories, he started back down the hall. Feeling rather than seeing Sakura fall into step beside him.


	6. Chapter 6

The Forehead poke had successfully knocked all thoughts out of Sakura's head. For the first time in years her mind was completely silent. No terror at the results of the autopsy. No rage at the sick bastard responsible. No pain over Sasuke's betrayal or confusion of his actions. No ever present, loud internal monologue. Just silence and nothingness. The thoughtlessness brought with it a hazy but meditative calm that she never once remembered feeling. The only thing she was aware of was Sasuke's presence beside her, radiating a warm, protective, safe feeling that she associated with him since their first case.

She didn't even realize when they had reached the conference room, nor that Naruto was already there. She didn't snap out of the strange buzz until Kakashi, who she hadn't processed being there, started speaking to her.

"It's good to have you back Sakura, it's been a while."

"Sensei?"

"This will just be you three, primarily. I won't be officially a part of the team, but I'll be checking in regularly and aiding where I can. Now, what did you find?"

Reality slammed back into her and her bodily response was immediate. A new surge of fury rushed through her, her knuckles whitening against the folder she held. She turned to the board behind her and began taping up pictures.

"His name was Shiin. He's got a long list a priors, mostly thefts and assaults, although there was one case of arson that resulted in 3 deaths he was suspected in but never charged for."

"Wow, so this guy really sucked." Naruto commented inelegantly.

"Total garbage scum," Sakura consented, "but he still didn't deserve what was done to him…no one does." She felt the wave of nausea return as she looked back at the board, shortly followed by a pulsing need to punch someone. "It was nearly impossible to make the ID. Everything was…corrupted. I had to isolate individual strands of DNA, so the results aren't one hundred percent. Shiin's DNA to the DNA I ran only ran a 96.8 percent match."

"Corrupted?" Sasuke asked at the same time Kakashi questioned, "What accounts for the difference?"

Sakura stared at both of them, her expression stony. "The cadaver's DNA has been significantly altered, to a degree that it can't technically be classified as human. Human DNA comes in the form of a double helix, often referred to as a ladder. That means there should be two strands twisting parallel to each other, connected horizontally by base pairs. The DNA on this cadaver had a third strand of spliced animal DNA, which is impossible. Or so we thought. I had to essentially ignore the third strand when trying to make the ID. The body matches Shiin's DNA at 12 of 13 loci, the odds of which are 1 in 399 trillion. But it's not a total match and since the base pairs have been corrupted by this third strand it's impossible to make an assured ID…"

This was met with a horrified silence. The men in front of her looked about as sick as she had felt fifteen minutes ago. Finally Kakashi broke the silence, his voice slightly strained.

"How's…how's that possible?"

"Something like this has never been done before, it breaks all ethical medical codes. It's something along the lines of introducing a third strand of DNA and forcibly adding it into and existing code, and then inserting that DNA into stem cells and encouraging them to replicate. But it would inherently cause several imbalances in the body because it's unused to it."

"Is that the cause of death?" Sasuke asked. She knew he was trying to keep himself on task and not think about the disturbing details. But she could see by how still he held himself that he was clearly bothered.

"Kind of. There's signs of blunt force trauma to the skull, ligature marks on the wrists and blood under his…claws. Defensive wounds from a fight, but not what killed him. His lungs were so swollen that they crushed his heart and punctured themselves on his ribs. It's not a natural death, although it's hard to say what caused it. My guess is that the DNA imbalance, combined with some of the new genetic programming triggered an overactive stress hormone. The body responded by entering into a state of panic and hyperventilating, but since this body required more oxygen to feed the new appendages on his back, he wasn't breathing properly, his lungs over inflated and crushed his heart."

"What about the defensive wounds? Do they tell us anything?"

"He was Manacled and chained up, probably against a wall, based on the bruising pattern. The blood under his nails doesn't match any DNA we have on file. The head wound appears to be self inflicted or from an accident. There were trace purple fibers around his abdomen. The fibers match the kind used to weave rope."

Kakashi pondered the images on the board. Shiin, if that identity was correct, had been found naked. There were no signs of chains or manacles on him. That meant either someone had released him, who he most likely in turn attacked, or he had broken through the iron bindings himself. Which shouldn't be possible. But then again, neither should his DNA.

Sasuke beat him to voicing his thoughts. "Was he let go? Or did he break out?"

Sakura sighed, running a hand through her hair tiredly. This was frustrating. She had barely anything definitive for them, and everything she said just seemed to support mounting impossibility.

"It's impossible to say. My guess is he broke out. It shouldn't be possible for a human to break through iron with muscle alone, but he can't really be considered human anymore, genetically speaking. His body showed signs of increased muscle density and with the amount of cortisol present in his bloodstream, it's a good bet that he had enough adrenaline to back increased muscle strength."

Both Naruto and Sasuke let out a quiet "That's impossible."

Under different circumstances she might have laughed, it was rare they ever agreed with one another. She could understand their disbelief but all the proof was laid out right there in the grotesque body that was once a human being. "If you leave an egg in an empty box where nothing can disturb it, and later open the box to reveal that the egg is crushed, one can conclude that the fault must lie within the egg."

"Huh?"

"It's Howe's egg theory, moron. She's saying that when faced with evidence, the impossible becomes undeniable. Try reading occasionally Loser."

"Wanna say that again asshole?"

"Guys!" Kakashi growled.

Sakura wasn't really paying attention to their unsurprising argument. Of course Sasuke knew. _The Implausibility Factor_ was one of the first books she had recommended to him. And the memory through her unceremoniously back:

* * *

_It was their third case partnered together. Kakashi and Naruto were covering a Stalking case (not yet a violent crime, but there were signs of escalation and Naruto couldn't say no to the desperate crying girl) while Sasuke and she were after a guy who had stabbed his girlfriend although there was no proof it was him and they couldn't find the knife. When they had questioned him the guy was far from the grieving boyfriend you'd expect. He even had started hitting on her which made her skin crawl. He kept taunting them, popping up everywhere. While Sasuke was coming back from a lunch break she had forced him to take, the creep confronted him which resulted in Sasuke getting stabbed. Luckily it had been not far from the department. The guy was caught and Sasuke had been rushed to the hospital unconscious._

_Sakura had wasted no time in getting there the second she heard, and had sat by his bedside until he woke up. He didn't have any family left to sit and be there for him so she'd taken the responsibility on herself. It was only natural after all. She was his partner. And as much as she could lie about it to others, she couldn't to herself, she knew she wasn't over her crush on him. If anything, it was getting worse. _

_She was relieved to hear the knife had missed his vitals and that he would be fine once he woke up. But he had been working without stop and pulling several all nighters on the case that kept him under for a while. She felt incredibly useless just sitting there, and the more she did nothing the more her own guilt began eating her away. So she did what she always had. She retreated to books. _The Implausibility Factor _By Doctor Ernst Howe. It was an interesting read as a detective. It was focused on how Science is far less concrete than people think and not to dismiss anything with black and white thinking. He brought in all sorts of examples from human psychology and neurobiology, to metaphysics and quantum mechanics. He even cited a few police cases. All in all it was a rather disorganized read, and while scattered, Sakura still found she liked and agreed with the theory he presented. _

_The book and given her mind enough of a distraction that while she sat there next to Sasuke's hospital bed, her thoughts finally calmed enough to drift into a light sleep on what would have been her forty ninth hour of straight consciousness. Sasuke hadn't been the only one pulling all nighters on the case._

_She awoke to a pair of Onyx eyes staring at her unblinkingly. She shifted in the uncomfortable hospital chair and noted that Sasuke was sitting up. That was good. In fact he looked better than she probably did, which annoyed her a little since he'd just been stabbed. People weren't supposed to look that good after being stabbed. Genetics was a bitch._

_"You're awake." He noted._

_"So are you." _

_"The nurse says you've been here since I was brought in."_

_"That's because I was." She smiled. "Sorry, I meant to be awake when you woke up."_

_"You're still here." The light in Sasuke's eyes shifted to a questioning one. "Why are you here?"_

_"Cause my partner was stabbed." She said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. _

_"The guy—"_

_"Caught."_

_"The Knife—"_

_"Same one he used on his girlfriend. We got our evidence. Wished we could have done it without you being stabbed, but silver lining I guess." She could tell Sasuke was fighting a smile but the way his lips twitched and the amusement swimming in his eyes._

_"Must've been some book to put you to sleep."_

_"Must've been some non-vital organ to keep you under."_

_Sasuke laughed. Short and small but he laughed. For a second she wondered if she was dreaming. She knew there was no way she'd feel her heart speed up the way it was now if it had been a dream though. Sasuke had laughed. Because of her. Her crush was getting so much worse, she could feel it. And she was determined not to let it show because it was obvious from their time in the academy that Sasuke hated fangirls. She had snapped out of that phase, managed to get him to respect her somewhat. They had a good thing going now and she didn't want to ruin it. Which brought her to the realization that she had been staring at him an inappropriately long amount of time. Shit. She quickly dropped her gaze back to the book. _

_"Sakura?"_

_"Sasuke-kun?"_

_"I asked what the book was about?" Damn. Shit. Shit damn. Now she looked like a vapid obsessed space cadet again. She had to play this off fast._

_"I was just thinking about it, actually. It's about how there's more improbability in the world than people realize and what's believed to be impossible, isn't necessarily. Like you laughing. I should submit that to him to further his case."_

_"Sounds too fanciful."_

_"I agree, you laughing is too fanciful. Even Dr. Howe wouldn't believe it."_

_"May as well tell him you saw a unicorn." Now it was Sakura's turn to laugh._

_"Well actually…" She said, thumbing through the book, looking for a specific chapter._

_"You're kidding…" Sasuke blanched._

_Sakura snapped the book shut with a mischievous smile, holding it up for him to see. "Guess you'll just have to read it and find out." _

_He was released later that day and cleared to work desk duty the day after. Returning to her desk from a coffee run, she noticed a small brown box with a note taped on top. Placing her coffee down, she opened the note. Thin, hard looping letters read "No Unicorns." She opened the box to see two hard boiled eggs inside and another note on the inside lid. "The eggs aren't crushed either. Stop skipping meals." She hadn't been able to stop smiling the rest of the day. _

* * *

"Sakura?" She was slammed back into reality by a desperate Kakashi. "Please help?"

Naruto was crouching on the table holding Sasuke by the collar and yelling, Sasuke just goading him with "hn" and "loser." Sakura felt her barely existing patience thin.

"COME ON BASTARD I KICKED YOUR ASS ONCE AND I'LL DO IT AGAIN! RIGHT NOW! BELIEVE IT!"

"Just try it loser. You only won cause I pulled my punch at the las—"

"OH FOR FUCKS SAKE BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!" Both turned to look at their fuming pink haired teammate. "Can you possibly pick a worse fucking time? We are in a briefing for one hell of a fucked up case to try and catch a psychotic sadistic murder violating every human right there is! We have very few leads and no goddamn suspects so quit your testosterone fueled bitch fit, shut the fuck up and focus so we can catch this garbage munching anal reject!" Silence pervaded in the wake of her explosion. But she didn't miss the way Sasuke and Naruto exchanged a glance at the word "suspect."

"What?" She was met with more silence. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Well…it's just that…we kinda do have one suspect…" Naruto muttered looking away from her.

"And no one thought to tell me?" Her voice was deadly quiet. Which terrified Naruto more than her yelling.

"Well…i-it's just that we don't have any proof yet and and it's really more—"

"Who?"

"Y-you see Sakura-chan it's not that we didn't want to tell you we just don't have any evide—"

"Who is it Naruto?"

"Orochimaru." Sasuke answered calmly. "It's the Prime Minister's suspicion. He was a former classmate of hers."

"And when were you guys going to tell me?" If looks could kill she would be imprisoned for first degree murder.

Naruto opened his mouth to answer but Sasuke beat him to it. "When we had evidence to support it."

"Didn't you think I had a right to know?"

"It may have skewed your results if we had—"

"Bullshit. I'm a part of this team. I'm working on this case with you. If there's something you guys know or suspect you have to share it with me. This isn't like it was before. I'm different now. Stop leaving me out of shit!"

"We leave you out because it's dangerous!" Sasuke shot back.

"I can take care of myself!"

"Since when!" She felt everything shatter. Of course they didn't respect her. Didn't think she could handle it. Fragile breakable Sakura. She cast another withering glare at them and stormed out slamming the door behind her.

* * *

She didn't go very far. In fact, she only rounded the corner and pressed herself against the wall in an attempt to calm down. She had every intention of going back in. She had too. She was a professional, and they weren't done with the briefing. But she was too angry to stay in there without decking someone, which was most decidedly not professional. She knew she wasn't even all that pissed at Sasuke. As infuriating as the insinuation that she was unable to protect herself was, Sasuke didn't have much of a reason to believe otherwise. Back when he still knew her, she'd been hurt or held hostage in any case that became violent. She was slow, her hand to hand combat skills sucked, the only thing she had going for her was her sharp mind and her gymnast reflexes and flexibility. But in the moment she'd get too scared that those would go out the window. So as much as it pissed her off, she could reasonably give Sasuke a pass on this one. He hadn't been there the past three years to see what hell Tsunade put her through. He hadn't seen her fight recently. He didn't know the ability she possessed now. But Naruto did. Naruto had been there the whole time. He'd seen the training she endured. So why the fuck didn't he defend her?

Kakashi too. Although, she supposed the Orochimaru thing may have been news to him as well. Tsunade had probably shared that suspicion in the case assignment earlier, which he hadn't been called in for. He was helping out when he could but he wasn't officially a part of this case. Regardless, he still could have defended her when her capability was called into question. It honestly hurt her that neither he nor Naruto had. And since when did sharing a potential suspect put someone already on the case in danger?

She drew in a ragged breath. "Ok Sakura, take that rage and channel it into your work. Just like always," she muttered to herself, "catch this son of a bitch and prove them wrong. You told Lady Tsunade you could do this, you could work with him. Don't let her down now." With that small pep talk she took another deep breath, unclenched her fists, and rounded the corner back to the briefing room.

* * *

She heard all three men arguing from outside, but it all silenced the second she walked back in. She walked straight to the board not looking at any of them, and began to write out the leads they should be looking into.

"Genetic modification to this degree would require a gene splicer like CRISPR. There are only a few models and manufactures of it, so you can start by looking into their buyers. See if there were any private individuals. Experimentation like this would also require vast amounts of space and power. You can check with power stations and the national grid to see if there are any unexpected areas using a vast amount of power. Or check for any large facilities stationed near water sources. We're talking abandoned industrial complexes, hospitals, asylums, jails, power stations. Somewhere big with lots of room to work with. Probably either in a remote area or a highly noise saturated one. Experiments like this would be too painful, the screaming would be loud. They'd want to make sure no one heard it. Look into Shiin, as it's likely who this person once was. I'll check with Konoha University and the Hospital for records on Orochimaru. If he was in the training program with Lady Tsunade, they'll have some records of him, but only high ranking hospital officials will have clearance to look."

Sakura finished writing each separate lead as its own bullet on the board before capping the marker, turning around to see the three men, all of whom were standing, staring at her with eyes of blank shock. She met each of their stares with a gaze that dropped the temperature of the room below zero. "That's my report. Briefing over."

And for the second time that day, she walked out of the room, this time with no intention of going back in. She had work to do.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Thank you to Tale's of Xillia (a fantastic video game I highly recommend) for "Howe's Egg Theory" It essentially is just a "scientific" experiment version of Watson's principal in Sherlock Homes ("Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever's left, however improbable, must be the truth"). They're pretty much the same thing, but given how I'm trying to ground this story in plausible sounding-though likely inaccurate-science, Howe's Egg Theory fit better.

Also, don't take anything scientific in this story seriously. While I love science, especially biology, neurology, and quantum mechanics, I was an art major and the extent of my knowledge is hobby based and hypothetical at best.

Please review! It's a helpful motivator. Thanks for reading :)


	7. Chapter 7

"WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU SAY THAT, BASTARD?!" The ferocious blond's shout drowned out the echoing slam of the door. He'd screwed up. Badly. That much was obvious from the way she'd stormed out.

She had every right too. They'd kept her in the dark about this suspect. He wasn't even sure why. It just hadn't felt right to tell her. She was the one seeing the results of the creep's crimes up close and personal but an actual suspect made this more real. She shouldn't have to know that there was really someone out there who could and would deface every value she lived her life by. He also knew how absurdly ridiculous that train of thought was.

"Shut up Idiot! Even a moron like you had to be able to see how pissed she is! The last thing we need is for her to catch your stupidity and run off after him!"

Her earlier words bounced around his head. _I'm gonna make that sick son of a bitch pay. _He knew from the first time they were partnered that she could be prone to reckless impulsivity. This Sakura was angrier than the one he knew. And anger and reckless impulsivity were not a good combo. He knew from experience.

"God you really are a prick! Just what do you take her for anyway? She trained with Grandma Tsunade!"

"No shit! Clearly she's a brilliant Doctor! In 3 years and 10 months she went from 0 medical knowledge and the inability to be in a 30 meter radius of a corpse, to running a fucking hospital and dissecting a failed human experiment! But skills and calm in an ER do NOT translate to skills and calm on the field!" Sasuke growled, before he even processed what was coming out of his mouth.

Naruto reeled back in shock. He wasn't sure what surprised him more, the blatant praise of his pink haired sister-not sister, or that Sasuke didn't know. Thinking back to what Sasuke had confessed at the Ramen bar, it was starting to seem more and more like his and Sakura's relationship was more complicated than he had thought. He decided now was not the time to tease him about that, so he focused on the other part that surprised him.

"You mean you don't know, Asshole?"

"Know what?"

"Granny didn't just teach Sakura-chan medicine. She also was training her in hand to hand combat. And like—it's Granny's training. So that included that monster strength she's got…Bushier brow Sensei was crying over how many new sandbags he had to order for his gym. It wasn't pretty…"

Now it was Sasuke's turn to be shocked. How could he have known…and he'd essentially just told her she was weak. In actuality he was finding it very hard to believe Naruto. He probably wouldn't until he saw it for himself. There was no way that tiny woman would be able to destroy a sandbag—let alone several. Underneath the shock and disbelief was the ever growing rage at himself for having hurt her. Again. He'd sworn he'd fix their relationship and here he was imploding it.

"That's—"

"Sakura-chan's not weak. She can take care of herself. And everyone around her."

"Then why didn't you say something before?" Sasuke ground out, channeling his rage at himself on the blonde. "Why didn't you tell her we had a suspect? Why didn't you shut me up earlier?"

Naruto looked like he'd been slapped. "Well…I—that's because—"

"It's because you agreed! You also think it's too dangerous for her too! So where the hell do you get off lecturing me—"

"Well if you'd stopped being such a grade-A asshole for a minute—"

"That's enough! Both of you!" Kakashi said with so much authority that they actually stopped and looked over at him. They had been so caught up in their fight, they almost forgot he was there. This argument had gone on long enough and it was time he intervened before they started trading blows.

"Of course you're both protective of her and don't want her in danger. That was why she was initially placed on this squad. It's no accident that the three of you were made a team. We create squads to balance each other out."

"What are you talking about?" "You thought this was a balanced squad?" Naruto and Sasuke simultaneously interrupted.

Kakashi let out an exasperated sigh. Deciding Naruto's question would be answered with further explanation, he decided to focus on Sasuke's. "Sasuke," he said, focusing his lazy but experienced gaze on Sasuke's calculating blank one, "You had the highest test scores in the academy, ranking at the top both academically and in combat. But you failed in cooperation and working with others. You also had a genetic advantage in your unbelievable eye sight, and strange immunity to fire."

Sasuke blinked in surprise. It had been a long time since their academy test reviews—he'd forgotten about his scores entirely. It had also been a long time since anyone had actually talked about his genetic advantages.

"Naruto," Kakashi said turning to focus on the loud mouth blonde who still looked confused, "You failed everything. Ranked in last place for every subject. Except cooperation. You had an uncanny ability to get everyone on board with you. No matter who, it was only a matter of time before you could get them to open up. On top of that thanks to your heritage, you have an unending amount of stamina and incredibly fast recovery time as well as overall durability." At this the blonde broke into a proud grin. "It was only natural that you two balanced each other out."

"Where does Sakura fit into that?" Sasuke demanded, still not seeing how any of this was related.

"Sakura was as middle class as they come. She excelled at academics but she wasn't the smartest in the class. She was poor at hand to hand combat though not the absolute worst. She was normal from a normal background.

She didn't have the trauma and real life experience that you two had, of being alone to fend for yourself. Of having no one. Nor did she have the lineage that you or any of your classmates shared. She didn't have a family trade, skill, or genetic advantage like you two."

"You better not be calling Sakura-chan useless!" Naruto yelled pointing an accusing finger at Kakashi.

"Far from it. She was the only one with pure motives in joining the police force. Your ultimate goal, Sasuke, was for revenge. And you needed police clearance to get access to your case. And Naruto, at first you wanted glory and acknowledgement from others. Sakura joined because she believed in the value of human life and dignity. And she wanted to protect and bring justice to those who lost it. She was the only one of you with actual moral grounding as her motivation. And her inexperience with how dark the world could be, elicited in both of you the instinct to protect her. No matter how deep in your own bullshit you two were or how intense your rivalry became, the need to protect her normalcy and moral compass acted as a glue that kept you three functioning as an abnormally close knit team."

It hadn't even occurred to either of them but now that they thought back on it, the axis of the team had always been to protect Sakura. She was the first thing that had gotten him and the blonde idiot to really work together. At Kakashi's word, Naruto and he'd put their fighting on pause. At Sakura's, they'd stop the fight altogether. The one thing they'd both always agreed on was that no one hurts Sakura, and anyone who does, pays.

"She gave you two a taste of what it was to be normal, and as a result you two did everything in your power to protect that."

Normal. Sakura had made them feel normal. Naruto, who'd never known what it was like to celebrate his birthday until Sakura. Sasuke, who hadn't had a single relationship to another person that wasn't laced with anger, bitterness, jealousy, or hatred until Sakura. She made them feel normal. That wasn't something either of them could have afforded losing.

"But that was more than four years ago. Sasuke, you're more willing to work with others—especially Naruto. You're working here isn't just about tracking down your brother. You want to be here to actually do good. And Naruto, you trained so hard that calling you KPD's finest isn't a blatant lie anymore. You really are one of the strongest people here. You got your recognition, but it stopped being about that a while ago. You genuinely want to protect this city and everyone in it. You both changed. So why wouldn't Sakura? You're never going to stop wanting to protect her. But you need to acknowledge that she's far from the inexperienced middle ground girl that needs protecting. Trust in her."

There was no sense arguing. They both knew he was right.

"You didn't defend her either…" Naruto grumbled.

Kakashi sighed, his head tipping back a little, hand going to cover his already masked left eye. "Yeah, well, I never said this lecture was just for you two."

Before anyone could say anything in response, the door flew open and in waltzed Sakura, her aura frigid. He hadn't expected her to come back, and based on Naruto and Kakashi's reactions, neither had they. He thought he had accidentally dealt her irreparable damage in his earlier verbal attack. When she had stormed off, he figured she'd be too overwhelmed with her emotions to focus on the case anymore that day. She went directly to the board, looking at none of them, and began writing out and listing off all their possible leads in her small tight looped writing, her tone all business with a sharp undercurrent of seething rage.

"I'll check with Konoha University and the Hospital for records on Orochimaru. If he was in the training program with Lade Tsunade, they'll have some records of him, but only high ranking hospital officials will have clearance to look."

She capped her marker, turned around and cast a frozen look at each of them. When her jade irises met his, he was struck with the distinct image of frost bit grass. As she stormed out the door for the second time that day, he felt a surge of dread and again wondered how he'd already managed to break things more after just having sworn to fix them.

* * *

Naruto had gone out to ask around about Shiin. That was where he excelled as a detective. He could get anyone and everyone to trust and talk to him. One interrogation with Naruto saw even the hardest of criminals turning over a new leaf. Everyone kept their eyes and ears out for him. Victim's families, witnesses, ex-cons, homeless people, orphans, cops in other departments, even cops in other cities were always willing to help Naruto. As such he always got all the information he needed through his network of connections. Sasuke would never admit it to him, but he was a little jealous. Naruto could connect with others in a way he could never dream of.

They had decided to divide up the leads they would follow. Naruto was looking into Shiin and Hinata would notify him if any potentially related cases came up in missing persons. Sakura took the CRSPR lead and was checking with the Hospital for Orochimaru's records. That just left the power and geographic lead, which Sasuke took on.

He'd been pouring over power usage reports and terrain maps for the last three hours with nothing useful coming up so far. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. It was already 8pm and his headache from the morning had been attacking with a vengeance. In the reflection on his computer screen, he could see Sakura's tense back. She was sitting too straight—obviously still furious.

Very suddenly all of her tension dropped. Her head slumped forward into her waiting hands, her fingers covered by her bangs, but he could see them massaging against her temples. Apparently, he wasn't the only one with a headache.

Thinking back on it now, she had looked worn out in the meeting with Tsunade too. She had come in still in her hospital scrubs—which she had yet to change out of—indicating that she had come directly from a shift. Her resolute gaze had carried traces of exhaustion she seemed determined to hide. She hadn't come out for ramen with them earlier for lunch and when he had gotten back, she was already at her desk preparing for the autopsy. She needed to eat something and take a break but it was clear she had no intention of doing that any time soon. He didn't care how pissed she was at him, she was a doctor and she should know better. Working like that wasn't healthy. If she wasn't going to take a break, he'd make her. He crossed to her desk and towered over her. At the shadow now covering her desk, she looked up at him in surprise.

"Find something?"

"Go home." The second it left his mouth he knew he'd made the wrong choice of words. Even without her piercing glare, he could tell that was the wrong thing to say. Maybe Naruto was right and he really was a grade-A bastard.

"I'm working." She replied cooly, turning away from him.

"You need a break."

"What? Am I so helpless and frail now, I can't even do desk work?" She whipped sarcasm like shuriken.

This wasn't going anywhere. He had to change tactics. Placing one hand on her desk and one on the back of her chair, he leaned close enough into her face to see his reflection in her large green eyes. The sudden move startled her and making her turn back to face him, their faces only 7 centimeters apart.

"What time did your shift start today?"

Sakura seemed surprised by the sudden line of questioning, her already huge eyes widening in shock. As he had hoped, she was caught off guard enough by the tactic change to answer without her cutting sass.

"6am."

Early, though not unreasonable. But as he scanned over every detail of her face, he noted the slight bags and shadow underneath her eyes. Barely noticeable unless you were exceedingly close to her, which the back of his mind hoped no one ever was.

"Then you didn't sleep well last night…?"

"I was on call. Emergency surgery at 2am."

"Did you go home after?"  
"It took a while. My shift had pretty much started by the time I was done."

"Did you take a break?"

"Busy morning."

"After we talked earlier, where'd you go?"

"To get supplies from my office."

"Then what?"

"Came back here and did the autopsy. If you need someone to corroborate my alibi you can go glare in a mirror." She shot back, her eyes narrowing slightly. She'd caught on to the interrogation approach once she overcame the shock and clearly wasn't a fan.

Sasuke continued to hold her steely gaze, staring at his reflection in her eyes. They were remarkably clear. Were all eyes as clear as hers? He could see his reflection perfectly in them, even smaller details and hints of color. He didn't think he'd ever seen such reflective eyes before—thanks to his Uchiha genes, his eyesight could pick up and retain even the smallest of details, so he would have remembered if he had. He'd never cared much for mirrors but he found himself mesmerized by the reflective surface of her irises. And the color…he was positive he'd never seen that gentle spring shade of green on anyone else. The dark tangle of her long lashes obscured his view for a second, snapping him out of his daze. He realized he'd been silent too long—her look of hostile challenge had changed to confused concern.

"When was the last time you ate?"

"At—" She stopped short, her head shifting slightly to the left, eyebrows lightly furrowing and mouth open slightly as she tried to recall. He pulled away from her which he found to be frustratingly difficult.

"I shouldn't have to tell a doctor how bad it is to forget to eat. Take a break."

"I'm not leaving if you're not."

This was frustrating. When had she become this stubborn? He opened his mouth to tell her how annoying she was being, but never got the chance as she continued.

"You've been fighting a losing battle with that migraine for the last two hours. You need a break just as much as I do."

That stopped him cold. How did she notice? He thought he hadn't given any indication of the hammering pain pounding his skull from the inside out. She turned her back to him, clearly dead set on continuing to work. Not if he had anything to say about it. She said he needed a break just as much as she did? Fine then. He'd take one. He grabbed his jacket and stuffed the maps he'd been pouring over into his bag. The flurry of movement caused Sakura to turn back to him. He stared down at her, watching her eyes go wide in surprise. She hadn't expected him to listen to her.

"Let's go." He turned and started towards the exit. Her resigned sigh and the shuffling of materials signaled her intention to follow. Sure enough, her quiet steps confirmed his suspicion. Now to make sure she ate something…

* * *

It turned out Sakura didn't own a car as she still commuted to work. This played to Sasuke's advantage. She was clearly exhausted and it was written on her face that the prospect of commuting was not a pleasant one. That was probably the only reason she'd accepted his offer of a ride so easily.

Heavy silence permeated the car, both inhabitance focused dead set on the road in front of them. Silence had never bothered Sasuke in the past, but he found this one pissed him off, largely because it shouldn't be there. There was way too much that had to be said between the two of them, and the fact that neither of them were saying any of it filled the confined space with more tension than it could hold. He'd never been one for starting conversations—but he was aware that if he owed it to anyone, it was Sakura. He messed up and he needed to do something that the Uchiha never did. Apologize. Steeling his resolve he was about to speak when Sakura beat him to it.

"I'm not mad at you for earlier." That was the last thing he expected her to say. She was letting him off the hook, which was the last thing he deserved and felt the need to point that out.

"You should be."

"No." She returned placidly.

"Why?"

"I can't fault you for thinking I can't handle myself. Clearly you didn't know what Lady Tsunade's training entailed and you haven't seen me fight recently. My past showings were pathetic at best. You'd have no reason to assume that wouldn't still apply."

"Nothing never changes. It was dumb of me to think that you wouldn't have gotten stronger during those three years." As soon as it left his mouth it occurred to him that explicitly bringing up the time of his absence was a mistake. He could tell by the way she tensed in his peripheral vision that he'd set her on edge. Again, she surprised him with startlingly calm logic.

"Why wouldn't you jump to that conclusion? As far as you were aware, I wasn't even on the force anymore. I'm a doctor, who managed to not only score residency but become the unofficial head of the hospital within three and a half years. The natural assumption is that I wouldn't have time or reason for combat field training."

"Then why'd you get so angry earlier?"

For the first time since they got in the car, Sakura turned to look at him armed with an expression that clearly communicated her belief that he must have only one functional braincell.

"Just because I get it doesn't mean I appreciate having my weaknesses—alleged or real—thrown against me by my own teammates. I also wasn't too happy that neither Naruto nor Kakashi-sensei defended me. Also not thrilled with you two withholding your suspect from me, but even that I kinda get…I had my suspicions about the autopsy that I didn't want to share unless they were confirmed. It's part of the job so as much as it pisses me off, I get it."

She sighed and leaned back in her seat, looking up at the sky through the moonroof. "Just…Just stop leaving me out of shit. I'm part of this team too. Always have been and always will be. So just stop leaving me out…"

It was shocking to him how clearly she knew herself. The way her mind was able to analyze exactly what pissed her off, separate and contextualize it, and process it in a way that allowed her to move forward was truly admirable. If it had been him, he'd just have gotten angrier the more he thought about it, until he exploded in an impulsive fit. She was someone so fully governed by her emotions and yet the amount of control she had over them was flawless. Her emotions were her tools, navigators, and guides where as his weaponized themselves against him, ripping him into shreds from the inside out and submerging him so he couldn't think straight.

He looked over at her fully and found he couldn't look away. The way the moonlight caught her made her look unreal. Her pale hair shimmered a silvery pink, her fair skin glowed, and her spring green eyes shined like polished jade. With her petite size, gymnast's grace, and unusual coloring, he might actually have believed her if she told him she was a fairy. In the far recesses of his mind, he absently wondered if he should send her in as a case study for _The Implausibility Factor_.

Sakura slowly blinked before turning to meet his eyes, locking him in her gaze. After a few seconds of charged eye contact, she murmured, "why aren't we moving?"

It made him uncomfortable how much conscious effort was required in looking away from her, but with a surge of willpower he managed to tear his eyes from her to the dumpling restaurant out her window. He hadn't forgotten his primary mission in offering her this ride was to get her to eat. She followed his gaze out the window to the homey looking restaurant before practically jumping out of the car.

"Oh thank god! I'm so fucking hungry."

Sasuke almost laughed.

* * *

Apparently "so fucking hungry" had been a gross understatement. She wolfed down an entire plate of appetizers, her whole plate of shrimp tempura and had just ordered another plate of dumplings. He couldn't blame her, after all it had to have been over 24 hours since she last ate. He was mildly impressed by how she was still able to eat gracefully at that rate of consumption. Her table manners were still in check and she managed not to spill or drop anything. He'd always wondered where she got her flawless etiquette from. She rivaled all the heiresses at the boring formal functions he'd been forced to attend as the only representative of his family.

He was snapped out of his pondering when her small hand deposited an orange pill bottle next to his plate. Upon further examination he noted that it was a prescription migraine medicine—his name was on the label and Sakura was listed as the prescribing doctor. He blinked at the bottle of medication. She must have prepared it while she was getting her stuff from the hospital, which meant she'd made her diagnosis while they were getting their case assignment from Tsunade…

"You should take two now since it's your first dose, but you generally it's one in the morning and one at night. Make sure you take it with food."

"How'd you know?"

"You turned off your computer monitor to do a digital job the analog way. You'd wince whenever you looked up, and you were resting your head in your hand, covering one eye."

"You prescribed this before that."

"Your right eye twitched a little when I opened the door, Lady Tsunade opened the window shade, or she and Naruto got too loud."

"You got that I'm suffering migraines from an eye twitch." There was no way that was it. If that's all she was going on to formulate her diagnosis, it was incredibly reckless.

"That coupled with your eyesight. Your genetics are a double edged sword, Sasuke-kun. The heightened range of your sight, amount of detail your eyes can pick up and retain, abnormally wide peripheral vision, and nearly perfect night vision all place strain on your optic nerves and occipital lobe. You're genetically adapted to handle it, but over exertion and lack of proper rest and care will cause damage. I know you have trouble sleeping at night, but even if you're just resting your eyes with a cold compress, that'll help. You should also increase your B-vitamin, Lutein and Omega-3 intake."

Sasuke blinked at her, before slowly dropping his eyes to the bottle in his hands. His emotions were one huge torrent of confusion. For her to have that much knowledge of his unique genetic trait meant that she must have really studied it hard while he was gone. Her words earlier about being unable to throw him away rang in his head. _No matter how emotionally wounded I was, neither could I._ He knew how much he hurt her, how all he seemed to keep doing was hurt her. He deserved her hate, anger, and acidity. Part of him wanted for her to punch him in the face, tell him to fuck off and to never come near her again. That's what he deserved.

But the rest of him desperately just wanted her to look at him and smile again. To fall into their easy way of conversing, to not be tense or question every time they were alone together. Her unbelievable kindness, attentiveness to him, and every time she said his name with the honorific all gave him hope that they could get back to that place. But the strange guarded, calculating energy she kept giving off, and the tension she held in his presence filled him with uncertainty. He wasn't sure what the right choice was in this situation.

But he did know that his head was pounding, and his eyes had been growing more sensitive to light recently. Clearly now was not the time to be disregarding a skilled medical professional's advice just because of messy personal reasons. He uncapped the bottle, popping two pills into his mouth before chasing it with water.

The waiter had brought Sakura her dumplings, which she was already half way through consuming. "It's later," she said, regarding him curiously. His brows furrowed in question, unclear about where this was headed with the randomness of the statement.

"Delicate and breakable. What's the difference?"

"Hn…"

"Knew you were lying."

"Lying?"

"About there being a difference."

"There is a difference."

"I'll believe that when you tell it to me."

"And I will…Later."

She let out a bemused huff. "Sasuke-kun, you have to actually be good at talking if you want to talk your way out of a situation."

"I'm not trying to talk my way out of a situation. It's late. You're tired. That conversation's long. I'll tell you later."

"You're not telling me because I'm tired but I'm the one who asked so my exhaustion shouldn't factor into not having this conversation."

"Who said this was just about your exhaustion? A medical professional recently informed me I need to be resting more for the sake of my eyes."

Sakura actually did let out a small laugh this time. "Well at least you're not arguing. I was expecting you to be stubborn about it."

* * *

Sasuke paid the bill. He was uncertain if her financial situation had gotten better or not, but he was loaded and was responsible for dragging her out to eat so he figured it was the least he could do. Sakura clearly didn't look thrilled about it but she also didn't argue, which lead him to believe that her finances had not gotten better.

...An idea that was further reinforced when he dropped her off at her tiny apartment—the same place she had lived in before he left— in a shitty neighborhood. He remembered the first time he'd dropped her off and asked her about it:

_They were in the middle of a rough case. Garra, a boy their age, visiting from Suna, had a psychotic break and went on a rampage, shooting people with specialty crafted sand bullets. Luckily no one had died, but several were severely injured. His older brother, Kankuro, was hiding him, while KPD questioned his older sister, Temari. She had revealed Garra's tragic upbringing. Their mother having died in child birth and suffering from abuse, neglect and isolation enforced on him by their father, who blamed Garra for her death. Neither of his siblings felt the same way but their father kept them away from him. Alone and constantly being told he was a monster, Garra started having violent outbursts. _

_After explaining his past, Temari didn't give them anything else, determined to protect her little brother whom she felt she failed growing up. The three of them had been deeply effected by his story. Both Sasuke and Naruto found parts of the story unnervingly similar to their own lives, and Sakura hurt for him and her team, just imagining it. The likelihood that Garra had recognized and might target squad 7 was high as they'd had two interactions with him prior to his mental breakdown. As such, they had decided it was best to avoid traveling alone or using public transport as much as possible. But Sakura didn't have a car._

_Naruto was too riled up about Garra, and Kakashi was working on calming him down. So it was up to Sasuke to take Sakura home. _

_The ride had been a quiet one, both still lost in thought about Garra. They only talked when Sakura would give him directions. Until Sasuke registered that they were heading towards South Konoha—the district with the second highest crime rate. _

_"Sakura, where are we going?"_

_"To my apartment…?"_

_"We're headed towards South Konoha."_

_"Where my apartment is…" She said clearly confused by his confusion._

_"It's not safe there."_

_"It's ok. I'm armed." Her tone was light and unbothered, which bothered him more. _

_"You can't shoot for shit." _

_"I'm working on it." She laughed awkwardly, looking out the window._

_The conversation died there, until they reached her apartment. A sketchy rundown seven story building with graffiti on the sides and a light blinking in and out in the lobby. The area around it wasn't any better. Further down the block, he could see a park where he was sure less than legal activities took place. _

_"Why do you live here?"_

_"Because it's cheap."_

_"Cheap shouldn't rank higher than safety."_

_She shrugged. "It's not just that it's cheap, I really can't afford anything better."_

_It had never occurred to him that Sakura had financial issues before. He assumed that someone who looked as put together as her had money to back it. She must have read the question in his face._

_"My parents both had minimum wage jobs since I was little. My mom actually has two, she's a maid and a preschool teacher and my dad's a waiter. And I started working when I was fifteen to help with bills and stuff. The police academy tuition was more than they could easily afford but it was my dream so they worked their asses off to send me. It was selfish of me…police work doesn't pay that well. I should have aimed for a higher money making industry so I could support them, the way they always supported me."_

_"They don't help you with rent." It was an observation more than a question._

_"They can't really. They try to but I turn them down. I could live somewhere nicer than this, but I wouldn't have enough left over to pay off some of their debts."_

_"That's why you use public transit."_

_"Yup. Can't afford a car." She laughed at whatever his disapproving expression must have been. "Don't worry I'm not going hungry or anything."_

_"Hn."_

_She got out of the car, the door snapping shut behind her. He watched her cross to his window, knocking lightly. The window lazily rolled down and she smiled cheerfully, leaning against the open frame. "Thanks for the ride, Sasuke-kun. Goodnight!"_

_Before she could turn to go he grabbed her wrist. "I'm driving you to work tomorrow."_

_She blinked in surprise and for a second he thought she looked a bit flushed, but then she smiled and it was gone. "Ok. See you tomorrow."_

* * *

"Thanks for the ride, Sasuke-kun." She said, unbuckling her seat belt.

"Doesn't being a doctor pay more?" He muttered eyeing the rundown shit hole she called an apartment with distaste. Her eyes trailed to her building, before falling back to him.

"It does. But medical school, and textbooks cost more…and I can send more money back to my parents this way."

"Hn."

She shook her head and pushed the car door open. Before she could get out he grabbed her wrist. "I'm driving you to work tomorrow."

He tried not to focus on how his spirit sank at her guarded expression. "What if I don't want you to?"

"I don't give a shit." He could see her mind calculating her response, so he decided not to give her the opportunity. "We're a team. What kind of teammate would I be if I let you commute to work alone."

"Didn't stop you before." She shot back, her tone carefully measured.

"It will now."

There was another tense pause, their eyes locked on each other. She broke it abruptly, getting out of the car. "Rest your eyes with a cold compress." She instructed before snapping the door shut. He watched her cross to her building and waited until he saw the light of her fifth floor apartment turn on, before driving away.


	8. Chapter 8

Sakura leaned against the door to her apartment and sighed. She had no clue how to feel. She sunk to the floor pulling her knees to her chest, her head tilting up to the ceiling as she tried to process everything.

She'd actively avoided him for four months and suddenly in one day, she'd had more one on one interaction with him than she'd been ready for. "He's doing it again," she murmured. Walking her to her tasks, taking her out to dinner, dropping her off and picking her up—they were all things he'd done with her before. And she was annoyed that a piece of her wanted that. As much as she hated to admit it, him walking her to the morgue had been comforting. She had needed that break and to eat and she wouldn't have taken it if not for him. And public transit was exhausting—she always had to be on guard against someone trying to pick her pocket or cop a feel. It was nice feeling safe and looked after.

But he was also sending her emotions into a torrent of confusion and upset. She couldn't read the intention behind his actions—she never could. They could be the behaviors of an incredibly close friend, or of a boyfriend. She knew where she stood on the matter. She was in love with him. Still. Despite how much he'd hurt her when he left. Dryly, she realized that was how she knew it was love—it wouldn't have hurt nearly as much otherwise.

When she was in the academy, she was infatuated with him, largely because of his faultless appearance, but also his talent and skill. She wasn't disillusioned, she knew she wasn't all that impressive. Especially not next to her classmates, who all had skills, trades, or genetic advantages passed to them from their families. She was generally mediocre in a class full of specialists. And Sasuke was at the top. It had always been her dream to help protect and restore people's dignity, but next to her classmates, she felt like she had nothing to contribute. If Sasuke, the best of the best acknowledged her, then she knew she had to be worth something. So she, like all his other fangirls had done her best to try and earn his acknowledgment through the only way she felt it possible for herself. Using her femininity. A plan that backfired to such an extreme extent that she was sure he hated her, along with the rest of his fangirls.

When they'd been placed on a team together, she saw it as her chance to finally earn his approval. She'd been surrounded by hoards of other girls before, but now it'd be one on one and he could fully see her. But when their squad leader, Kakashi, nearly failed them on their first squad cooperation test, calling her out on her fixation on Sasuke, she wanted to just drop dead in shame. She'd completely lost sight of why she joined the force in the first place. After that she resolved to try and ease up on her infatuation—she couldn't just get over him, he was still incredibly attractive and skilled, but she did her best to keep her focus on their cases. However, her mediocrity made itself apparent in how she was constantly freezing up and not being much help. Sasuke explicitly calling her useless the first time they were partnered together broke her out of her fear. She was pissed and needed to prove that she could do what she had set out to, that she could defend and restore other's dignity. She was frustrated with herself that she hadn't succeeded. Sakura had failed to get to the innocent girl on time, she'd been injured and traumatized, and while Sakura fought her hardest to protect her from further damage, she herself ended up hurt and in need of rescuing. After that though, Sasuke had become considerably nicer to her. The closer the two got, her crush on him grew more and more, though she was determined never to let him know that and give him a reason to hate her again. It hadn't hit her she was in full blown love until the night she was watching him leave, desperately begging him to stay with tears streaming down her face.

It was so confusing though. He couldn't have thought of them as anything other than friends but she didn't see him act the way he did with her to anyone. Not to any other friends and certainly not to any other females. All of the behavior he exhibited with her was so coupley but it was always only in private. No one saw the way they conversed so easily with each other, or the way he always brought her coffee in the morning without having to ask what her coffee order was, or the way he always made sure she texted him to let him know she was home, on the occasions he couldn't drive her. If she forgot, he'd text her to check. He had also always texted her goodnight.

It couldn't be in her head that there was more to that than just friendship. There was something there. She didn't know what but it had been there. And no one knew about it. When he left, no one had understood why she was so broken. Which made it even harder. She couldn't go through that again.

But something was weird. Sasuke wasn't just rebooting old behaviors, something new was happening and she had no clue how to read it. He'd never made physical contact before, unless she was walking away and he had to grab her to tell her something. Sasuke didn't do shouting. But earlier he'd poked her forehead. It seemed like far more of a weighted gesture than just a simple act of teasing—there'd been a weird look in his eyes she'd been unable to decipher, and it seemed to surprise him that he'd done it in the first place.

Then there was the interrogation. He'd never gotten that physically close to her before. She was blushing just thinking about it. Thank god the shock of it had managed to keep the blush in check at the time. It hadn't shown but she certainly felt it—he may as well have just breathed fire on her face for how hot she felt. It had taken all her concentration to focus on his questions rather than his eyes, black as magnets, which seemed to exude a similar pull. If she had given in to their force and leaned just a little forward, they'd have been kiss—

Her eyes flew open, her face burning and her heart pounding so hard it could have filled the drum section of a punk band. "Enough, Sakura!" She growled to herself, "You don't have time for this right now. You're on a case. Stay focused."

So she did what she always did when something bothered her, she stretched while forcing her mind to run through medical facts. Today her mind focused on cells.

Dropped in a lunge on her living room floor, she proceeded to stretch her splits while murmuring, "red blood cells lack organelles or a nucleus. They're filled with cytoplasm carrying hemoglobin and are responsible for transporting nutrients throughout the body. Since they lack mitochondria, they require sugar for energy. The average red blood cell count in the human body for males is 4.7-6.1 million cells per microliter. For non-pregnant females it's 4.2-5.4 million microliters."

She began stretching the other side, moving on to white blood cells. "There are several different kinds of white blood cell, all part of the immune system. Neutrophils, Eosinophils, Basophils, Macrophage, Monocytes and Lymphocytes. There are three types of Lymphocytes: B, T, and NK, all originating from stem cells in the bone marrow, though the ones that travel to the Thymus are the ones that become T cells. B cells produce antibodies that combat different antigens…"

Sakura stopped short mid stretch. Had she missed something? Thinking out loud she recited the earlier results of the autopsy. "There was a high presence of antibodies in the blood stream but the white blood cell count was low…low white blood cell count indicates immune deficiency or immune suppression—but antibodies means there was an antigen…" She sat up abruptly. She needed to take another look at the blood work. She was ready to go right then, but her body disagreed, deciding to communicate with a large yawn. She needed to sleep. Sighing, she found the nearest pen and paper and made a note to herself—she'd look over the autopsy results again in the morning.

With at least her emotional turmoil somewhat calmed, she took a quick shower, and dropped into bed, her eyes automatically shutting. Despite how her mind was racing, sleep quickly over took her.

* * *

Her wrists were strapped down to a hospital bed, a huge bright light hung blindingly overhead. She flexed against the wrist straps but they didn't give way, and when she tried again, she realized her ankles were tied down too. Panic surged through her as she turned her head trying to get any concept of where she was. There were giant tanks filled with strange liquids, and as her eyes adjusted, she was able to make out the forms of naked humans. She tried to scream but she had no voice. A prickling in her hand caused her eyes to drop to her wrists and with a wave of nauseating horror she noted that her fingers no longer resembled human digits, but instead looked far more like talons. She tried again to scream but still her vocal chords refused to budge. A low, dark, masculine chuckle, erupted from behind her before she felt shadowy hands crawl down the expanse of her arm, injecting her with something. Her body erupted in an internal burning, she tried desperately to breathe but couldn't draw in a breath. A faint ringing resounded in her ears, growing louder and louder.

* * *

Sakura bolted upright, nearly joking on the desperate amount of air she inhaled. She wasn't sure where she was at first, only noting the darkness around her, before she was able to reorient herself to reality and confirm that she was in her room in her tiny shitty apartment. The ringing continued as she made a shaky grab for her phone, figuring she was needed in the ER. It took a second for her confusion to clear as to why the caller ID read Sasuke-kun, and not Shizune-Senpai. Then she remembered that she wasn't on active hospital duty anymore, she was working a hellish case which added a lot of context to her nightmare. Sasuke had saved her from pure terror. Again. And he didn't even know it.

She took a steadying breath before answering. He didn't even wait for her greeting, just got right to business. "They found another body. I'm picking you up. I'll be there in 45 minutes."

"Ok."

There was a long pause and then, "What's wrong?"

She almost let out of sigh of frustration. How did he always know? "Nothing. It's early."

"Hn…" She could practically hear his eye's narrowing in disbelief on the other end of the line.

"See you soon." She said, determined to end the call quickly before he decided to push the matter.

"Yeah." The line went dead.

She pulled the phone away and noted it was 5am. She had taken a shot in the dark with her "It's early" excuse, lucky she was right. Although, she supposed, she was used to 2am emergencies so for her this wasn't all that early. She had never been more grateful that being an on call doctor had trained her to be such a light sleeper. She didn't want to stay in that nightmare a second longer.

After quickly showering off the sweat she'd broken out in while she slept, Sakura stood in front of her closet facing a dilemma she hadn't had in a long time. What to wear? She'd been donning hospital scrubs every morning. What did she used to wear while she was on the force? Deciding it wasn't worth putting that much thought into, she threw on an old pair of black skinny jeans, a form fitting V-neck red hoody over a white tank top, and pulled a black blazer with white trim over it. Strapping on a white belt and clipping her first aid kit to the back of it, she grabbed the black bag with all the ME equipment Tsunade had given her the day before. She pulled her hair back messily, the ends spiking up and over the clip, and pulled on her boots before running out the door. Ever the one for punctuality, Sasuke's car was already waiting outside.

* * *

As soon as she sat down, a cup of coffee and a plastic bag were thrust into her hands. Looking in the bag she saw two pickled plum rice balls and an anko bread roll. Sasuke had gotten her breakfast.

"Stop skipping meals."

It was embarrassing how well he still knew her. Turning her face to hide her ashamed blush, she answered pathetically, "It's not like before cause of some dumb diet or anything…I just get too caught up in work and forget…" Yeah, she wasn't helping her case. She could tell by the snort Sasuke let out that he found her answer as lame as she did.

Against her better judgment she turned to look at him. His eyes were trained on the road ahead, black and bright—two contradicting adjectives that didn't really belong together and yet seemed to completely fit Sasuke. After all, he was just a mess of contradictions. Consumed with rage and yet completely calm, so fierce but incredibly gentle, emotionless yet caring.

Sakura had always loved puzzles, and that may have been a part of her initial crush on him. She, who had never met a puzzle she couldn't solve, was never quite able to make sense of how the pieces of Sasuke fit together. The one conclusion she had drawn was that there must be nothing in the world like being loved by a man who could hate the way Sasuke did.

It was when his bright black eyes slid to her in question that she realized she'd been staring too long. Shit. Inwardly she cringed. Now wasn't the time for fantasizing over Sasuke. Another body had been found. She needed to focus on the case.

"The body?"

"Discovered by three kids who called it in at 4:40am."

"What were three kids doing out at 4:40am?"

"Fuck if I know. Naruto knows them. Apparently one called him personally while another called it in officially."

"Near where the first body was found?"  
Sasuke shook his head.

"And we're sure it's related?"

"Allegedly it has horns."

"Are the kids ok?"

She could read his confusion in the way his head cocked ever so slightly left.

"Discovering a body in that…state…that could be really jarring to a child Sasuke-kun—"

She immediately silenced herself. Sasuke didn't need to be told how jarring it would be to discover a corpse at a young age. He'd experienced it, walked in on his whole family murdered at the hands of his beloved big brother.

How was she always so insensitive? She should have been more aware, more careful, of what she was saying. She had to say something to him. To apologize for being such an idiot.

"Sasuke-kun, I'm so sorry, that was…" She trailed off as she turned to look at him fully. He was already looking at her. But not in the way she'd expected. Sakura thought he'd be glaring. She hadn't been expecting and wasn't prepared for the strange…warmth, in his eyes. Once again she felt drawn in to him by some almost magnetic force. Tunnel vision was a term she'd only ever heard or used to describe a mindset, but Sakura felt like she was physically experiencing it—her eyes were firmly locked on his and seemed incapable of shifting focus elsewhere.

Sasuke abruptly turned his head, his gaze settling back on the road. The car started moving again. When had they stopped? Oh. It was a red light. Dazedly she took a sip of the much needed coffee he'd gotten her. He still remembered her coffee order—vanilla coffee with a splash of milk and one sugar.

"What's wrong?" his deep quiet voice startled her out of her Sasuke induced mental haze.

"Nothing…"

"You didn't sleep."

"How do you know?"

He didn't say anything, not that he needed to. She knew she looked like a zombie. Sasuke didn't like having his questions go unanswered. He was surprisingly persistent when it came to getting answers. Sakura didn't want to share that the case was already giving her nightmares, that she was as fragile and breakable as he already thought her to be. But she also didn't feel like having the answer forced out of her at the moment.

"Fine. I had a nightmare. Happy?"

"About?"

"What do you think? The case." She snapped, not enjoying how vulnerable she felt.

"What happened?"

"I was tied to a hospital bed, and around me there were a bunch of incubator tanks. My hands didn't look like hands anymore, they were more like talons, and someone inject—" She stopped short. She had missed something, she knew she had. Her mind was racing with facts, bloodwork, chemical compounds, and calculations. She didn't even noticed the way Sasuke was looking at her.

"What?" He prompted. "Sakura, injected you with what?"

She could barely hear him. High presence of antibodies, low white blood cell count, something injected, burning. It had been a dream but her instincts were telling her that there was truth in it. "It's not a naturally occurring antigen…some chemical…"

"Sakura?" She had been murmuring quietly to herself. As she always did. It was hard to decipher the look Sasuke was giving her, something between confusion and…was that concern?

"Sasuke-kun…I think there's something I missed…in the blood work…"

"What are you talking about?"

"This attack is a cellular and chemical one. I completely disregarded the chemical aspect before but there had to have been a foreign substance introduced…"

"Poison?"

"Not quite…"

Sasuke shook his head and looked out the window. They'd reached their destination: a large open clearing ringed by woods on the outskirts of Konoha. Three thick posts were set towards the southern edge of the clearing. A great tree stood in the middle, slightly northeast. This had been their old training ground. This was where they had passed Kakashi's unpassable test that marked the true formation of Squad 7. Sasuke hadn't cared much for her back then, but despite that, she had been the first person he opened up to, ever, in the midst of an exam they were failing:

_She'd been handed a golden opportunity. What better way to earn Sasuke's recognition then by helping him steal a bell off their new Sensei. Why they had to steal to pass a test in order to join the ranks of law enforcement was beyond her. Really it just seemed counter intuitive. And the excessive use of force Kakashi-sensei was expecting of them also seemed ridiculous, but who was she to argue with her new Sensei and captain?_

_More importantly, now was her chance. It would just be him and her, and she'd assist him and then he'd finally acknowledge her, and she'd know she was capable of accomplishing her goal. And god did she need that level of recognition. It was embarrassing how easily their Sensei had caught up to her and completely unraveled her with just a few words. Intimidation and interrogation tactics. She'd studied them at length but had been completely unprepared when they were used on her. She was mortified that she'd actually fainted in the shock and fear. But she had to make up for that now. She'd find Sasuke and—_

_"Sakura?"_

_She'd barreled through the trees and into a small clearing to find Sasuke handcuffed to a tree._

_"Sasuke-kun? Kakashi-sensei even got you? Damn he's good…"_

_Sasuke sent her a withering glare and she felt her heart splinter. Wrong choice of words, he'd surely hate her now. _

_"Here, let me help you get out…" The glare didn't lesson in the slightest. Sakura felt her chance at gaining his recognition slip away with the passing seconds._

_"Do you have a key?"_

_"…No." She muttered sheepishly._

_Sasuke's dark eyes fixed on the handcuffs for a second before flitting imperiously back to her._

_"Hairpin?"_

_"Why do you need a hair—oh." Her eye's widened in understanding. "Uh—yeah, here." She removed the bobby-pin from its place, her bangs flopping forward into her eyes. Handing him the pin, she watched him work quietly, aware that there was not much time left. Kakashi-sensei had given them until noon, and it was only ten minutes til. It was silly to keep trying at this point._

_"Sasuke-kun, maybe we should give up. We've only got ten minutes left. There's no way we can get the bells in time, he's too strong for us—"_

_A guttural snarl cut her off. Her green eyes widened in surprise as Sasuke jerked against the cuffs so abruptly he broke skin. There was a small pause as his dark eyes closed and he took a deep breath, resuming his work at the lock. _

_"I'm not like you or Naruto. I need to get stronger, and to see his file. I need to track him down."_

_"Track who down?"_

_There was a small click as the cuffs opened, releasing Sasuke. He stayed facing the tree, and much to her shock continued talking._

_"That night…I was crying…"_

_"…When were you crying?" It occurred to her that Sasuke was not familiar with voicing what he was saying. He kept hesitating. The way he had to stop and start like the words weren't familiar on his tongue…this was Sasuke's first time saying this out loud, to anyone. _

_"That night he—I need to avenge them…I need to find—"_

_He was cut off by the shrill call of an alarm resounding through the woods._

_"Damnit! I wasted too much time here." And with that he took off, leaving Sakura, whose heart was sprinting at the fact that she was the first person he opened up to, behind._

Now, caution tape surrounded the area, police cars bathing it in red and blue light. Naruto was standing near the posts talking to three clearly rattled 17 year olds. Uniformed officers were pacing the field, cataloging evidence. Sakura felt heat burn through her. How dare they turn her team's training ground into a crime scene.

"You'll have to explain later." Sasuke's voice had taken on the edge it got when he was trying to keep his anger at bay. Clearly seeing their place covered in yellow tape upset him as well.

"Don't worry. You'll get a full report." And with that she stepped out of the car, preparing herself for the sight that would be equally if not more disturbing than the previous corpse.

* * *

All of the uniform officers guarding the area around the body looked a tinge green, Sakura noted as she flashed her newly reissued badge, Sasuke close behind. As she got closer she could understand why. She knelt down beside the corpse without hesitation, feeling Sasuke and Naruto come stand behind her. This time it was a young woman, at most two years older than herself. A strange black geometric pattered covered one half of her while the other half was as mutated as the first body. The skin on the left side was grey, her retina black with a yellow iris. It could be a case of heterochromia since her other eye was brown, but given the color and the rest of the left side of the body, Sakura figured it had something more to do with experimentation and genetic manipulation. The presents of what appeared to be gills on the woman's left cheek confirmed that for her, as did the strange set of ram horns growing from the top of the woman's head. A black line ran down from the bottom eye lid to the tip of the gills on her cheek almost like a type of war paint, but on closer examination turned out to actually be a part of the skin. Her long hair was considerably lighter—almost a pale orange compared to the right side of her head which had more of a dark strawberry blonde coloring. Sakura looked closer at the right side of her face. She looked like a broken doll glued back together, the way the black marks spread across her face and down her neck like cracks. Sakura stepped around to get a closer look at her right hand, noting the markings extended down to her long fingers. When it came time to do the autopsy, she suspected she'd see those marks down the entire right side of her body. She had ligature marks around her wrists as well, although the bruising pattern was a little different. They were concentrated on the upper part of her wrists instead of the inside the way Shiin's had been. She must have pulled up against her restraints—probably on a table like the one Sakura had been tied to in her nightmare.

"Anything?" Sasuke's voice cut through her examination.

"Most useful information will come from cutting her open. There's nothing much externally, so cause of death is probably internal, likely due to experimentation. Estimated time of death is four hours ago. Hard to say for sure because we don't know the full effects of the experiments on body decomposition."

"This may be a dumb question so please don't hit me Sakura-chan…but we're certain this is linked to Shiin, right?"

"If you're thinking of it as a standard serial killer case, there isn't the same concise MO that you might usually see—"  
"—but it's safe to consider the level of experimentation and body modification as the MO. The odds that two murders with that level of bodily change—"

"—yeah. The scientific knowledge required and inclination to put it to this kind of use…it's unlikely there'd be two psycho mad scientists active at once." Sakura finished, unsurprised that Sasuke seemed to be on the exact same page.

"Are there any notable similarities between her and Shiin? Other than the ugly makeover then?" Naruto asked, with a weak attempt to lighten the mood.

"Not that I can tell from the outside. She does have ligature marks on the wrists, though the bruising's slightly different, she was probably bound to a table instead of a wall. It seems he's keeping all of them restrained in some physical way, although we can't declare it a pattern until we have a third case…"

A grim silence fell around the three. That was the reality of serial killer cases—as much as you wanted to protect people from them, you often didn't have enough information to catch them until there were at least more than three corpses. Nothing felt more useless than working a case where they had to wait for another body to drop in order to make any strides towards solving it.

"You said time of death was around four hours ago?" Sasuke questioned, his eyes scanning the entirety of their surroundings.

"Roughly."

"That puts time of death around 2am. Naruto, I need to talk to those kids. Can they handle being questioned right now?"

"Yeah they should be, I'll come with you though—they're more likely to talk to me than a frozen bastard like you, right Sakura-chan?"

"Heh. I'm coming too—I've found everything I can right now and I want to check their psychological health."

As the three of them made their way to the teens, Sakura realized she recognized these kids. They were the ones that always made a point of trailing after Naruto, looking up to him and calling him "boss." They had grown a lot, but Sakura could still recognize each one.

"Konohamaru!" The seventeen-year-old with spiky brown hair and a long blue scarf turned towards Naruto, his face pale and drawn. From his positioning, it was clear that he was still the leader of the group.

"Nii-chan…"

"How ya doin', kid?" Naruto asked, his tone a gentle mix of warm joviality and quiet concern. Sakura could tell he was trying to give the kid a sense of normality and safety, and she felt her heart warm. Naruto had always been like that, it was what won her over and made her his number one fan and supporter.

Konohamaru was at a loss for words, he kept opening his mouth and abruptly shutting it, unable to speak his fear out loud. It was the girl with thick orange-blond pig tails, Moegi, who spoke first although she didn't get very far.

"That body…"

"What's wrong with it…?" Udon, still sporting a bowl cut and thick coke bottle glasses, finished. All of them looked absolutely horrified.

"Uh…a lot actually. But we're working on it so no need to worry! Believe it!"

Naruto's placation surprisingly worked enough for the kids to crack a weak smile. If Naruto could smile and give reassurance in this situation, why shouldn't they?

"We need to ask you some questions." Sasuke cut in blunt and to the point. At least he'd had the sense to let Naruto try and cheer them up first. The kids didn't take Sasuke's statement well. All of them paled and she thought she saw the boy with glasses shaking.

"W-we didn't k-kill her, I s-swear!" Konohamaru stuttered out, his eyes widening.

Naruto actually laughed. Understandably. The idea was laughable. That three kids could begin to do what was done to that body was ridiculous.

"We don't think you guys did it, Konohamaru! There's no way! We just want to know if you saw anything." Naruto encouraged, elbowing Sasuke hard and receiving a glare.

"We didn't see anything," Moegi responded shakily.

"What were three kids doing out here in the first place?" Sasuke's eyes were focused in on them trying to pick up any hint of lies.

"Sneaking some extra practice. The police academy entrance exam is coming up. And Nii-chan said he always used to train here."Konohamaru answered in an attempt to get Moegi out of Sasuke's line of fire.

"How'd you notice the body?"

"We were doing speed and endurance training. Suicides starting here and going past the tree. As we were getting closer Udon said he thought he smelled something weird. When I passed the tree I noticed the silhouette, but I was the furthest in line from it and didn't see it clearly. Moegi was the one closest to the tree—"

"The way we lined up, I was arms distance from it. I thought I saw something orange when we got to the tree but we were going so fast—I turned away so quick—I just figured it was a flower or something. But when I got passed the tree…and s-she was just lying there—and she had horns and w-wasn't moving a-at all—and I screamed and—" Moegi's voice broke and she couldn't hold back the tears anymore. Konohamaru and Udon immediately moved to comfort her. She took a deep breath before looking up at Sasuke again.

"Konohamaru called Nii-chan and I called it in officially."

"What time did you get here?"

"3:50, I think." Udon answered.

"Did you come together or separate?"

"Together."

"Did you pass any other vehicles going the opposite direction on the way here?"

"Five in central Konoha. But none when we got closer to this area."

Naruto turned to Sasuke. He didn't even have to say anything for Sasuke to understand, it was part of what made them such a great team.

"Given the location it's probably nothing. But we don't have much else to go on so looking into can't hurt."

"Thanks guys. We'll find this asshole, so don't you worry, believe it!" Naruto cheered.

He and Sasuke turned away, ready to follow up on their vague lead. But Sakura wasn't ready to leave the kids just yet. She'd made her medical assessment and it would be irresponsible as a doctor to just walk away.

"Hey you three, it's been a while. Remember me?"

"Sakura-neechan!" Konohamaru exclaimed. All their attention had been on Naruto and Sasuke, they hadn't noticed Sakura standing quietly behind the two. "What are you doing here? I thought you left the force."

"I'm the acting medical consultant for this case, speaking of which," she reached into her pocket and handed them all a business card with her number on it. "What you three witnessed was traumatic, and it's not only fully acceptable, but recommended that you speak to someone about it. There's the pediatric mental health clinic in the hospital, I'll give you a referral and they'll see you immediately, or you can talk to me directly if you want."

"But—"

"No arguing, Doctors orders." She said with a wink, making him flush slightly and look away. She gave them a warm smile, "You did good. You handled this well and you're all going to be fine officers. But it's not necessary to have this baggage getting in your way. So let's work on getting rid of it now, ok?"

The three nodded, and seemed to relax a little. Satisfied, Sakura turned to catch up with her teammates only to find Sasuke looking back at her, about seven meters away. The look in his eyes was the same one she'd seen earlier in the car, that strange…warmth.

They spent another 4 hours sweeping the crime scene before heading back to the station together, each with something new to add on to their previous research.

Sakura had another autopsy to do. This time she'd pay closer attention to the blood work. She knew she was onto something with this train of thought. Some enzyme or chemical would reveal itself and give them something new to latch on to, she was sure of it. And as disturbing as it was sure to be, she was almost excited to get to work on the autopsy. She'd planned to get right to it as soon as she reached the station. A plan that was completely derailed by an angry, blond, tactical and interrogation specialist storming up to her.

"WHAT THE FUCK FOREHEAD! YOU COME BACK TO THE FORCE AND DON'T EVEN TELL YOUR BEST FREIND?! THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?"

"Uh, hey Pig, good morning to you too."

"Oh don't give me that sass billboard brow! You haven't texted me back in two days! I was worried you were dead in that shithole park you live near! And then I find out from Kiba—KIBA—that you're back on the force? That is some world class bullshit, Sakura! Last time I checked, you were avoiding this place like it was an asshole ex-boyfriend!"

Sakura tried not to cringe, acutely aware of Sasuke behind her. And Naruto for that matter. He'd always been oblivious to the weird relationship she and Sasuke had, just chalking up her feelings to close friendship, but she didn't need him picking up on the tension now. Not while she still wasn't sure of what was going on herself.

"I'm sorry Ino-pig, but can we please do this later?" She ground out, glaring daggers at her best friend while also trying to telepathically scream at her that Sasuke was right there.

"Oh no we're not. We're doing this right the fuck now! You're going on lunch break!"

Naruto sheepishly tried to interject "Uh…Ino, it's only 10am, and we're kinda in the middle of somethin—"

"She's going on Lunch break!" Her glare making Naruto shrink, as she grabbed Sakura's arm and dragged her out the building, leaving two very startled men in her wake.

* * *

A lot of yelling and two bento boxes later, Sakura was seated across from a slightly calmer Ino in a cafe.

"Ino…I'm sorry I didn't text you back." She did feel bad about that. They usually kept a constant stream of communication. It was genuinely alarming if one of them didn't text back for over 24 hours. It happened occasionally when Sakura had to go into a particularly long surgery but she'd alway sent a warning text to Ino if that was the case.

"Yeah you should be. So are you gonna tell me why at least?"

"A lot happened—mainly I went right from emergency surgery into a crazy shift into a meeting with Lady Tsunade being forced onto a case into an incredibly…disturbing autopsy…"

"Disturbing how?" Ino never missed a thing. Like Sasuke, she had an ability to read others like a book, although for her it wasn't because of eyesight. She came from a long line of behavioral and criminal psychologists—it was the Yamanaka's specialty. Ino had duel majored in criminal psychology and behavioral psychology and duel minored in pediatric developmental psychology and abnormal psych. When Sakura had opened the mental health and children's mental health clinics within the hospital, Ino had been her main consultant. Even among her own family she was exceptional. She could get into another's head easily. She wasn't an interrogation expert for nothing.

"He'd been subjected to extreme human experimentation." Sakura answered quietly.

There was a clatter as Ino dropped her chopsticks, eyeing Sakura, her face serious. "Are you ok?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Don't try and pull the tough act on me, Forehead. That's a declaration of war on every single one of your beliefs. Don't try and tell me you're not bothered by it."

There was no point in lying. "I'm very bothered by it. We've got another body I need to do an autopsy on. I suspect he's got a whole ring of victims on standby and it's absolutely sickening. We need to catch him but we've got no leads. Actually I was on my way to go do the autopsy when you kidnapped me." She said giving her friend a pointed look.

"I'm glad I did then. You won't eat after because you'll be too angry and nauseated. Glad I made sure you ate at least once today." She said, picking up her chopsticks again.

"You and Sasuke-kun both."

"Sasuke? He made sure you ate?"

"Yeah he always…" Sakura realized too late what she was sharing. And with someone as sharp and gossip loving as Ino, there was no way she'd miss it. Sure enough, she didn't.

"Always?" When Sakura said nothing, Ino set down her chopsticks for a second time.

"Alright. What's really between you two? And don't give me any of this we're a team bullshit. I know you were in love with him and you never got over him no matter how much you tried to lie about it. I know that's why you were keeping a 50 meter radius from anywhere you thought he might show up. I didn't see you guys together that much but when I did, it just seemed like you guys were friends. So what didn't I see?"

She'd never told Ino before out of respect for Sasuke. He didn't seem like the type who'd want his relationship details flying around. But she was also confused, and hurt, and tired of hearing that she was over reacting or being crazy. She wanted a second opinion and an ally. And who better than her psychologist best friend.

"Sasuke-kun…before he left we were really close. But it was more than friends, at least I think it was. He'd always take me home or walk me places. We'd switch off getting each other breakfast or coffee. He knew my coffee order. Whenever one of us went out for a snack or a drink we always brought the other something back if they'd stayed behind. He used to help me train, back when I really sucked. We'd recommend books to each other, left each other messages. Talk, which doesn't sound like much but Sasuke-kun doesn't do talking. He told me stuff about his family, his brother. I could tell he never talked about that with anyone. We crashed at each other's apartments…"  
She looked up to see Ino with her mouth agape. "What…?"

Ino shook her head, her expression changing from shock to rage. "No fucking wonder you were such a mess when he left! That asshole! You two were totally dating! How could he do that to you!" Her expression softened to one of guilt and empathy. "Sakura I'm so sorry. We all sucked and didn't support you at all. And made you feel like you were crazy and overreacting and being melodramatic…I'm so so sorry."

"Why? You never said those things."

"Yeah but I never defended you or told them off either. I knew you loved him and just figured it was that, I never realized there was any sort of reciprocation. Of course you'd want to avoid him now."

"Yeah. But you're right…I still…love him." She'd only said it out loud once before. The night he left. And it hadn't gone well. After that, she'd never admitted it to anyone, or even said the L-word out loud again to anyone other than family. It was terrifying to vocalize, even just to Ino. "And he's repeating those behaviors…"

"I'll kill him."

"I'd rather not see you thrown in jail."

Ino sighed. "You want my take on it? He likes you. A lot. Maybe even loves you. But he's not used to connecting to someone that intimately since his family, which didn't end well for him. He's traumatized of forming bonds that strong for fear of losing them again. But he doesn't know how to walk away from his feelings or ignore them either. Human's need to receive love. The more they receive, the more they feel the need to give. You've been the only one truly giving that love to him. And he wants, even needs, to give it to you."

"But the trauma's getting in the way."

Ino nodded. "He needs to give it to you, relate to you in that way, but so long as he doesn't acknowledge what that relationship is, so long as he doesn't put a name to the feeling, he can't lose it. It's a defense mechanism."

"A flawed one."

"Most are."

Sakura buried her head in her arms and let out a frustrated grunt. "The fuck am I supposed to do with that?!"

Ino shrugged sympathetically. "Fuck if I know…Why'd you have to fall for someone so complicated?"

She cast Ino a dry glare. "You liked him too at one point."

"But I never really loved him. Not like you."

"Oh, like Sai's so much easier."

"That's different. And he's getting better. Partially thanks to your mental health clinic." She said, giving Sakura a gentle smile. Nothing cheered Sakura up like knowing her efforts were really truly helping people. And she'd never know how much it meant to Ino that her initiative was helping Sai.

Sakura beamed back at her, her frustration temporarily forgotten. "He is? That's great! I'm so glad it's helping! We couldn't have set them up with out you, Pig!"

Ino just laughed shaking her head. Sakura would have found a way—come hell or high water. She never quit and that stubborn determination only grew under Lady Tsunade's mentoring.

"We'd better get back. I've got a body to cut open." Sakura said, standing up to go.

Ino nodded, rising as well. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

"You got it."

It was time to focus. She could think about Sasuke later. For now, she had blood chemical compounds to examine.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm sorry it took so long! Everything's been kind of crazy and I have a hard time with Sakura's chapters for some reason. Thank you so much for all the reviews though! Please keep them coming :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Standard disclaimers and TW for violence and domestic abuse.**

* * *

Red and blue lights bathed the field that used to belong to his team. The sight had been enough to jar him awake from the strong, complicated, pretty, pink-haired day dream of a woman occupying the passenger seat of his car. Sasuke was by nature territorial. This field belonged to his team. This was his territory. And as far as he was concerned, turning their field into a crime scene was a personal attack.

Sasuke followed Sakura to the body, his eyes scanning the surrounding area with growing unease. He spotted his idiot of a best friend talking to three scared looking teens he recognized as the brats that idolized the moron. They'd grown—appeared to be about seventeen now. The last time he remembered clocking their existence, they'd been thirteen, prattling on about how they were going to become detectives yet strangely referring to Naruto as "boss," as if they were in a gang. Naruto was perpetually cheerful and good natured, but it went twice so when he was with those kids. Naruto thrived off of attention of others, and having those three's unwavering recognition and support made him always shine brighter, louder, and clownier in their presents. Which made the grim expression and serious look in his eyes all the more concerning as he talked to them now.

While Sakura knelt to examine the body, Sasuke started his own preliminary examinations. It was a girl this time, so they could rule gender out on having any bearing on the victim pool. Her deformations didn't seem to extend to her whole body, which most likely meant either the unsub felt some level of pity/remorse and stopped, or more likely they were interrupted before they could get the results they wanted. Either way, this was another failed experiment.

Unlike Shiin though, it didn't seem like she had escaped and collapsed. She had been placed. This was a body dump—intentional. And careful. There were no foot prints, no broken branches along the tree line, no tire tracks found in the area. The girl had been carried, not dragged. Hopefully there'd be some forensic evidence left behind—coat fibers, finger prints, or skin cells from the perpetrator, but he highly doubted it. This guy was meticulous in the clean up. If he had wanted, he had the skill to not leave a body behind at all, which meant that she was left here for a reason.

Sasuke had poured over geographical maps the entirety of the night before, in a vain attempt to keep his mind off Sakura. It had been largely unsuccessful, as she always managed to dance her way into his thoughts, making him all the more pissed at himself. The upshot being that he had the entire geographic area memorized, complete with Konoha's full electrical grid and all surrounding body's of water. The area they were in now, was close to a small stream that trickled down from a nearby mountain, but it wouldn't be big or strong enough to run a piece of technology as powerful as CRSPR. There hadn't been an unusually high bump in energy usage from this area either. In other words, the field couldn't be near the unsub's lab set up. It was nowhere near where they found Shiin's body. Working under the assumption that Shiin had escaped, logically his collapse site had to be closer to the lab given the state of his injuries—he couldn't have gotten too far. But this field didn't make sense. It wasn't in a totally opposite direction of where they'd found Shiin. In fact they were in the same vicinity, not particularly close, but heading the same direction. If the unsub had been trying to throw them off a trail, it would have been better to place the girls body somewhere far away in the opposite direction of the first. This placement had nothing to do with Shiin or subterfuge, nor did there appear to be any ritual or remorse in it.

He chalked up his initial instinct of personal attack to his territorial nature, but the more he analyzed the situation, the more true it felt. It was deeply unsettling. Paranoia was an occupational hazard he was prone to, a dangerous one to be blinded by, especially while working a case. But Sasuke had learned to trust his instincts which were either very right or occasionally catastrophically wrong. His instincts were whispering that their enemy knew them well, and this was a threat. He was at war between immense paranoia and his gut feeling, and the tug between the two was threatening to send him into a downward mental spiral. He needed to ground himself, and in his attempt to clear his head, his focus fell on Sakura, as it always did. She was so calm and collected, despite the darkness she was surrounded by. Her calming energy was as infectious as Naruto's determination. He felt the knot in his gut loosen just looking at her.

"Anything?" He was glad his voice didn't betray his anxiety.

"Most useful information will come from cutting her open. There's nothing much externally, so cause of death is probably internal, likely due to experimentation. Estimated time of death is four hours ago. Hard to say for sure because we don't know the full effects of the experiments on body decomposition."

"This may be a dumb question so please don't hit me Sakura-chan…but we're certain this is linked to Shiin, right?"

He found it concerning that he hadn't processed Naruto standing next to him. Whether it had been because he was too wrapped up in his own paranoia, or in Sakura's relaxing aura, he wasn't sure. Either way it was a detriment.

"If you're thinking of it as a standard serial killer case, there isn't the same concise MO that you might usually see—"  
"—but it's safe to consider the level of experimentation and body modification as the MO. The odds that two murders with that level of bodily change—"

"—yeah. The scientific knowledge required and inclination to put it to this kind of use…it's unlikely there'd be two psycho mad scientists active at once."

Naruto asked another question to Sakura, but Sasuke had stopped listening. She was right. Statistically speaking, the odds that two serial killers would be active in the same area with the same MO, scientific skill level and access was impossible. There was something that felt wrong in Sasuke's mind about that though. Maybe "serial killer" was the wrong approach. Yes, this person had killed two people through a similar process—experimentation. Yes, it was likely he had already and would continue to kill more. But this case didn't seem to align with serial killer psychology. Sakura used the term "mad scientist," which felt more accurate. There wasn't any remorse in the deaths, but maybe they weren't supposed to die in the first place. Killing wasn't the end goal.

He was trying to see a full picture from two puzzle pieces. He knew he was thinking too far ahead. They needed more information. And he had to focus on what was directly in front of him, not what was thousands of meters away.

"You said time of death was around four hours ago?" Sasuke asked, once again scanning the perimeter of the field for potential access points.

"Roughly."

"That puts time of death around 2am. Naruto, I need to talk to those kids. Can they handle being questioned right now?"

"Yeah they should be, I'll come with you though—they're more likely to talk to me than a frozen bastard like you, right Sakura-chan?" The jab was one Sasuke was used to hearing for the past four months and would have normally had no effect on him. But now Sakura was included in it, he felt a flutter of nerves at what her reaction might be.

"Heh. I'm coming too—I've found everything I can right now and I want to check their psychological health."

As they set off towards the teens, Sasuke thought back to their conversation in the car. She was not only acutely aware of psychological trauma, but very determined to help others through it as best she could. Mental health hadn't been a focus when he and Naruto were kids. After The Massacre, once the hospital was sure he was physically fine, there had been no follow up on his psychological trauma. His PTSD went unlooked after, he'd been expected to just rejoin and function in society without help.

But Sakura wasn't separating mental health from physical. To her they were equally important. Sasuke wondered if her experience with him and Naruto had something to do with it. If someone like her had been his doctor back then, he doubted he'd be as fucked up as he was now.

"Konohamaru!" Naruto called. One of the boys, the taller, less dorky one, turned to the loud mouthed blonde. With one glance, Sasuke could tell that all the kids were visibly rattled. Sakura's words in the car drifted back to him. _"Discovering a body in that…state…that could be really jarring to a child."_

She was right—an admonition he was starting to make more frequently. He was grateful for Naruto and Sakura's presence. He'd never been good at taking care of other's emotional needs. Sakura and his shredded relationship was evidence of that, and while there was some hope of repair, the process of stitching up the fabric of their interactions was a painfully slow one. But taking care of others came as naturally to his two teammates as breathing. Thank god for them.

Even now he could see the kids relaxing under Naruto's sunny platitudes. With the kids more at ease, he figured they'd be more willing to share now.

"We need to ask you some questions." It was immediately evident that it had been the wrong choice of words. Or tone. Sasuke'd never been particularly good with either. All of the kids tensed and paled. The dorky looking one with glasses started shaking. And if the kid's reactions weren't enough proof of error, Naruto and Sakura's glare was. In the game of good cop/bad cop, when paired with these two he would always be the bad cop. Even if he didn't mean or want to be. He just didn't have the soft touch they did.

"W-we didn't k-kill her, I s-swear!" Konohamaru stuttered out, his eyes widening.

Well no shit, they hadn't really thought that's what he meant, had they? Any idiot could tell that they were just traumatized witnesses. Were they really dumb enough to think he thought them guilty? What kind of shitty detective did these brats take him for?

Naruto laughed. Loudly. And if Sasuke wasn't so busy being mildly offended, he probably would have laughed too. Or snickered. He didn't really laugh out loud much. Thankfully, laughing in this instance helped diffuse the situation.

"We don't think you guys did it, Konohamaru! There's no way! We just want to know if you saw anything." Naruto's elbow drove itself into Sasuke's side, eliciting a glare. But it got the kids talking so he guessed he couldn't complain.

Unfortunately, their story didn't give them too much to work with. They hadn't seen anything which meant that the body was likely dropped before the kids got there. Estimated time of death was around 2am and according to Udon, they got to the field at around 3:50. There was a whole hour and fifty minutes to make the drop. The kids didn't find it or call it in until 4:40 so that added another forty minutes where the dump could have happened while they were distracted with their training. And if that were the case, he was even more skilled than Sasuke had initially guessed.

The only lead they had gotten was a very thin one—the five cars Udon had noted they passed in central Konoha. He could tell with one look that Naruto was on the same page with that one. Likely nothing, but when it's the only lead you've got…

"Given the location it's probably nothing. But we don't have much else to go on so looking into can't hurt."

"Thanks guys. We'll find this asshole, so don't you worry, believe it!" Naruto cheered.

He and Naruto both turned to head back to their cars. There was nothing else here to see and they had to follow up on this useless lead, as well as continue looking into others. He only made it about 7 meters before realizing Sakura wasn't with them. He turned to see her talking to the three kids. She was handing them her business card and flashing giving them a warm smile that was out of place in the red and blue bathed light of the field, swarming with grim faced officers. He couldn't hear everything she said to them, but he caught the words "mental health," "talk," "me," and "you did good."

Unexpected warmth spread through his body, pooling in his stomach and making his hands tingle. He was used to being overtaken by heat when he was angry, when Itachi was mentioned and his rage burned through him. He physically felt overtaken by fire. But warmth was new. And pleasant. How did she do it? How could she be so kind and aware of other's pain? Naruto made sense. He'd been put through the wringer as a kid. He'd experienced so much pain that he almost effortlessly understood others. For Naruto, he could have either turned down the wrong path and become a savage monster, or stayed on the good side and be able to understand everyone. Turn them around and set them on a good path with himself trail blazing the way as an example. Those were really the only two possible outcomes for him. But Sakura hadn't been through hell as a kid. She hadn't experienced loss or the hatred of others. So how had she come to be so sensitive to everyones pain and trauma. She was able to offer the right words, the right smile, the right care to anyone, despite not having felt the pain they experienced.

He hadn't been that aware of her in the academy—she was just another fan girl, seemingly unaware of his or anyone else's pain. That impression didn't change right away when they were placed on team 7 together. Yet, during their cooperation test, when Kakashi had gotten the better of him and Sakura found him, he began opening up to her out of frustration. And she had listened. She'd asked prompting questions to get him to continue. But other than that she just listened. No judgement. No claims of understanding. No trying to prove a point. Just listening. It seemed like such an easy thing to do but no one had until her. Who could have guessed that all they needed to do to plant themself in Sasuke's head was to just listen.

Since then she'd mixed that illusive skill with profound empathy. As far as he was concerned, she could heal anyone in any capacity. That was something that needed to be treasured and protected.

She turned, abruptly locking his eyes with hers. For a second, he watched several things flit through them: curiosity, shyness, hope, and…and then the shield went back up. She approached him with an oddly guarded ease. "Thanks for waiting. Let's get back. We've got work to do."

* * *

Sasuke knew better than to get in the way of the angry blond hurricane. It almost made him pity Sai, since he was dating her. How that boy, who was so ignorant of social cues, survived living with her was beyond him. And while he wanted to interject when Ino abducted Sakura, he knew it would be pointless. Their relationship had always confused him but from what he could gather, it was somewhat similar to his and Naruto's. Which meant whatever this forced 10am lunch break was, it would have the same effect as when he and Naruto sparred. There was never a time they understood each other more than when they traded blows. Those two needed whatever their meeting turned out to be. So he grabbed the back of a befuddled Naruto's shirt.

"Come on, Idiot. We've got four hours worth of CCTV footage to comb through."

* * *

It took less than an hour to discover that the lead was well and truly a dead one. Four of the five cars had one or more passengers in them, probably coming back from clubs or bars.

One of the cars actually belonged to Shikamaru, who had been dropping his girlfriend Temari off at the airport for a flight to Suna. Interestingly, after meeting Naruto, Gaara had done a complete 180, turned his life around and was now Prime Minister of Suna. They worked under something of a monarchy so he'd always been in line for the position, but during his psychotic episode, he nearly lost the seat. Apparently he'd worked hard and earned the respect and loyalty of almost all Suna citizens and was now the Prime Minister with the highest approval ratings ever. Temari was one of his chief advisors and the ambassador for foreign relations—primarily with Konoha. She was essentially a princess there, so her relationship with Shikamaru was rather controversial in Suna. He knew from Naruto enforced drinks and ramen dinners with the guys that it was something Shimamaru was actually insecure about.

The only car with a solo occupant belonged to Kabuto Yakushi, who was going home after a late shift at the hospital. When Sakura got back from her "lunch," she checked in with the hospital staff who corroborated the time frame. Sakura then left to begin the autopsy, taking off so quickly, he didn't even get the chance to walk her down. That left him and Naruto back at square one.

And square one wasn't getting them anywhere. Naruto made that abundantly clear by his loud, frequent, obnoxious, sighing. After yet another one of his connections failed to turn up any information, he let out a yell of frustration before turning to his emotionally constipated best friend. Sasuke's focus seemed to have drifted from his computer screen to their team 7 picture on his desk.

"It's nice, all of us being back together, huh Bastard?" Much to Naruto's surprise, Sasuke jerked up. Shocking due to the fact that he wasn't one to be caught off guard. He must have been really deep in thought. Nostalgia, maybe?

"Do your work idiot." Guess he recovered.

"Aw come on. You know we're not gonna turn up anything right now. We can't do anything until Sakura-chan's done with the autopsy. We've got nothing else to work with right now. What do you say we spar a bit and blow off some steam."

"Remind me again how a dim witted slacker like you got to be a detective."

"Seriously ass hole, you know I'm right. You're not getting anywhere either. I can tell you're frustrated. Let's spar. It's been forever!"

He was right. Sasuke was frustrated. On top of having no new leads and several dead ends, he couldn't keep his mind focused on work. Every few seconds he found his thoughts wandering back towards Sakura. Her kindness, her maturity, her intelligence. She'd grown so much—become someone so reliable and strong. It was impressive. Even he, someone so rarely impressed, had to acknowledge that. But the strange thing was, where normally he would acknowledge it and move on, with Sakura, his mind seemed to keep finding more reasons to be impressed. Any time he tried to move on, he was just yanked back to her.

He was too distracted. He was on a case. But he couldn't focus when every few seconds his thoughts drifted towards the intelligent, sharp, strong woman now serving as their medical consultant. Naruto was right. Physical activity and pounding the loud mouth blond's face in usually helped clear his mind.

"Fine. Punching bags were getting boring anyway." He pushed away from his desk, happy to be walking away for a bit. Naruto bounded up excitedly, racing past him towards the dojo facility next to the station, Sasuke trailing behind.

* * *

One thing that had to be said about Naruto was he was a power house. The guy had a never ending amount of energy that never seemed to wane. No matter how much of a beating he took. decked in the face, upper cut to the jaw, elbow to the stomach, kick to the back of the knee, thrown to the floor. Naruto would still get up swinging. He was resilient and oddly durable.

Sasuke was not. He didn't have the stamina Naruto had nor could he take a beating the way the blond could—no one could do that, except maybe Lee. That's why Sasuke's defense was so strong. His calculating mind and quick reflexes rarely allowed for an opening. Naruto had yet to land a clean, full powered punch on Sasuke. That being said, keeping a guard up against the ruthless unending barrage of Naruto's strong fists was exhausting.

The two of them stood opposite each other, sweating, panting, and bruised, yet smiling. Without ceremony, Naruto charged, ready for another round and Sasuke's guard immediately went up.

"Bastard—I've been meaning to ask, what you said the other night about you and Sakura—did you like her?"

Sasuke's guard faltered enough for Naruto to land a clean blow to his cheek, sending him sprawling.

"What the fuck, Loser! That's none of your business!"

"Actually," Naruto shot back, attempting to drop kick him, which Sasuke rolled out of the way of, "you're my best friend, she's like my sister, and you're both my teammates, so it's very much my business. Did you like her?"

Sasuke swept his foot across the back of Naruto's leg as he landed, knocking him to the ground. He was about to pin him there when Naruto head butted him, sending him reeling. Naruto took the opportunity to turn the tables and pin him. "Well did you like her or not, asshole?" Taking each punch the blond threw, looking for his opening to counter, it occurred to Sasuke that he didn't know the answer. Had he liked her back then? He knew she had a crush on him, no matter how she tried to hide it. He could tell by the way she would look at him that even though she stopped fangirling over him, she had still liked him. Had he felt the same way? How do you know when you liked someone?

Sasuke pushed against Naruto's right shoulder while he pulled back for a punch, throwing his weight off and flipping him over so that he was pinning him again. Now it was Sasuke's turn to pummel his best friend. He had plenty of frustration and anger—mostly at himself—to fuel the attack. How could he not even know his own feelings? He had respected her, how she had gotten to a point where she could keep her feelings in check. For people like him and Naruto, who were so consumed by their emotions even now, it was truly admirable. He respected how intelligent she was—always able to see through the tricks and false leads criminals would try to throw at them, even without the gift of eyes like his. He admired the innocence she had and wanted to protect that. He cared about her. Never wanted to see her hurt. But he didn't like her romantically. Not back then…but now?

His fist stopped midair. Naruto's clear blue eyes stared up at him, deep with understanding. They always understood each other best when beating the ever-loving-shit out of each other. He let him go and rolled off of him, collapsing onto the floor and staring at the ceiling. The best friends just laid there, breathing hard.

Naruto was the one to break the silence. "So now?"

"How do you know?"

"Ha! Jesus bastard, I knew you were emotionally constipated but I didn't know it was that bad."

Sasuke cast him a half hearted glare, making him chuckle.

"Well…I guess with me and Hinata, when I started liking her, it started just as noticing her more. Or noticing when she wasn't there. Then I started feeling better—but also nervous, whenever she was around. I really liked when she would talk, her voice would calm me down. And I wanted to be near her all the time and be there to protect her every time she went out on a case. I started thinking about her more and more until I couldn't keep my mind off her…Honestly I still didn't get it though. Sakura was the one to slap some sense into me."

"Of course she was, Moron…"

"So?"

"Yeah…Fuck."

"You picked a rough time to grow a heart, tin man."

"I know. Fuck you."

"We're on a really fucked up case."

"No shit."

"You already hurt her once—she was really upset when you left, man. She was the last one to see you, what happened that night?"

_"I—I love you with all my heart! If you were to stay here with me, there'd be no regrets, because everyday I'll make it worth it, we'd be happy I swear! I would do anything for you! So please…please just stay with me!"_

"That night…nothing happened."

"Don't tell me I have to beat the shit out of you again."

"Like you could, Loser."

"You wanna go!" Naruto shouted, bolting upright, and grabbing Sasuke's collar.

Naruto's phone interrupted them. Jumping up, he ran over to his bag, fishing out his phone. After a brief glance at the caller ID, he quickly answered.

"Hey Sakura-chan!…He's with me…Of course you did! You're awesome Sakura-Chan!…ah, yeah right, we're on our way!" He hung up and turned to Sasuke, who was looking at him expectantly.

"Sakura-chan finished the autopsy—"

"How'd she sound? Is she alright?"

Naruto shot him a curious look. "Dude, you caught the feelings hard."

"Shut up, dead-last."

"Briefing. Let's go. It sounded like she found something."

* * *

They walked into the briefing room to find Sakura covering the board with notes. He caught the double helix of a quickly drawn DNA strand, a chemical compound diagram, complex equations he couldn't even begin to answer…whatever she had found looked…involved. She didn't even look up when they entered, all her focus was on whatever she was working out on the board. Occasionally she would tap the marker against her chin or the board to think better, muttering her thought process under her breath.

The boys didn't even alert her to their presence. Naruto was trying to glean some understanding of the notes on the board now so that he didn't feel like a total dumbass later—and he wasn't getting very far. But Sasuke's eyes were on Sakura. There was something incredibly engaging about watching her in that state. Her hair messily clipped up, eyes narrowed slightly as she stared at one piece of the puzzle, her brow would crease occasionally as she wrote another note or worked out another equation. Her voice a barely audible hum as she thought out loud. There was something so alive about her when she was solving a problem.

"Eh-hem," a calm masculine voice cleared his throat behind them. It bothered Sasuke that he hadn't registered Kakashi standing behind them sooner. Sakura jumped and turned towards them.

"Oh good. You're all here."

"You've been busy." Kakashi noted, eyeing the board.

"Yeah. It's a bit confusing though, so stop me if you have questions." She was practically glowing with excitement, which Sasuke found strange given how much this case disturbed her.

They all took their seats as Sakura launched into her findings.

"I had a feeling there was something weird that I had missed about Shiin's blood work. So I went back over it along with Tayuya's—"

"Tayuya?" Kakashi asked.

"Oh right. Sorry. Victim's name is Tayuya. No sir name. 27 years old. Originally from Kusagakure. No known family—she was put through Kusa's foster system but was a frequent run away, and left the system entirely at 16. Lots a misdemeanors—some DUIs, couple of assaults, shop lifting, possession of a controlled substance, and prostitution. She last scene working at a strip club two years ago. Never reported missing."

"That's rough…" Naruto murmured sadly.

"It's not uncommon. Stripping and sex work are high risk professions. Lot's of cases that police don't want to take because they don't care or think the girls had it coming." Sasuke answered darkly. It was frankly something that sickened Sasuke. Yes, it's a high risk profession and women who did it needed to be aware of that—but that didn't make violence against them or kidnapping any less of a crime. For some, it was the only option they had, but that shouldn't have meant sacrificing their right to safety and protection.

A heavy silence fell around them. Sakura was looking away, her fist tightening around the marker. Kakashi broke the tension. "What were you saying about blood work, Sakura?"

"Right. The blood work. So, I thought there was something weird about Shiin's blood work yesterday. The white blood cell count was really low but there was a high presence of immunoglobulin. It's a kind of protein produced by the immune system to help fight off a foreign invader like a virus, also known as antibodies. Now, antibodies are produced by B-cells which is a part of the body's immune network. So whatever happened in the body triggered an immune response, but then you would expect to see a higher white blood cell count."

"So you're saying they were given an immune suppressant, like they do with transplant patients, right?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke could understand his confusion, he wasn't clear on what Sakura was getting at either.

"No. No immune suppressant would trigger antibody release like this. The body treated the substance that was introduced as an antigen, but in the process it suppressed the white blood cell response."

"What's the substance?"

"Unidentifiable. But it's man-made and multifaceted?"

"What do you mean multifaceted?" Naruto asked. It was clear from his expression that he understood next to nothing of what was being said.

"Most poisons or toxins attack one thing or serve one purpose. This one serves several. The body treated it like a virus at first because it behaved like one. The typical virus attaches itself to the cell, destroys all the organelles inside, and injects its own genetic material to create more virus, before detaching and moving on to the next cell. This substance did the same thing, except, instead of destroying organelles, it infiltrated where the nucleus where the DNA is stored."

Sakura pointed to the DNA diagram on the board. "Here you have a strand of human DNA, however, not all these spaces," she said indicating the space between where the two strands seemingly met, "are equally open. The ones that are tighter together are harder to read, so the body doesn't code for that trait. This is referred to as epigenetics. An epigenetic factor will attach itself to the histone tail of the DNA, essentially pinning it closed so the trait isn't expressed. However, these pins aren't permanent. Environmental factors could loosen them and change the gene expression."

"I don't get it Sakura-chan."

"You ever come face to face with a wolf before, Naruto?"

"No…?"

"But if you did, you'd be scared, right?"

"Well, yeah. I don't want it to eat me."  
"Right. You were born and raised in a city. You've never come across a wild wolf before, so how do you know to be afraid of one? It's because thousands of years ago when humans lived in forests and small unprotected settlements, they knew to be afraid of wild animals. That fear and stress tied to coming across a wolf got coded into our DNA and passed down to us. Now we know to be afraid of wolves despite never seeing one. But let's say you were raised by wolves, Naruto. Being afraid of wolves wouldn't be practical to your survival. So your epigenetic factors would attach themselves to that piece of code and pin it closed, since it's unnecessary and even dangerous for that fear trait to be expressed."

"Oh! I get it! That's really cool!…and kinda weird. So what's that got to do with this poison?"

"Well it's not exactly a poison, but it served as a prep and a carrier for that strand of spliced animal DNA. It loosened certain epigenetic factors that were keeping some of their more pre-evolved, animalistic traits closed. It then transported and wove in the spliced DNA strand. I think having those more naturally animalistic traits reawakened allowed for the new strand to be integrated more easily."

"I don't think I want to know, but is there more?" Kakashi asked darkly.

"Unfortunately, yes. The substance also inhibits serotonin receptors and increases cortisol production."

"Which means?" Sasuke prompted, frustrated by the medical complexity of it all.

"It blocks your ability to process happiness or calmness and heightens stress, anxiety and anger."

"Lovely." This whole report was nothing but bad news. Anyone having this powerful of a substance in their possession was deadly, and whoever was skilled and warped enough to conceive of and make this was the Devil. The level of complexity was bothering him though. There was something familiar about it that he couldn't quite place.

"My theory is that it happens in stages. The first stage is the injection of the substance and spliced DNA. In this stage, a black three-pronged tattoo-like rash forms at the injection site. The second stage is when those black marks spread, which I think is the substance fully activating. The third is the start of the transformation and the final stage is when the transformation is complete. I think Tayuya died during the third stage. "

"Does this give us any leads?"

"Unfortunately not much. We can check mass orders for syringes. Based on Tayuya's background, she may have been sold off, which could also explain why she wasn't reported missing. In which case we can look into known human traffickers and see if they recognize her picture. I'm working on isolating the compounds in the substance. Identifying the ingredient list might narrow down a region or reveal a signature."

Sasuke stared at the DNA diagram Sakura had drawn. Complex genetic engineering, biochemical manipulation. Why was this sounding familiar to him. It reminded him of something from his time outside Konoha. A conversation he had with…Suigetsu…

"Well, some leads are better than none. This is truly incredible work, Sakura, to discover this much in such a short period of time. You keep working on identifying this substance and look into records of skilled medical staff from all the five nations. See if anyone has some non-demonstration skeletons in their closet. Include Orochimaru on that list. Naruto, you check in with Hinata on trafficking rings, see if she's got some…"

Sasuke couldn't focus on the rest of Kakashi's assignments. His mind was too busy conjuring up all his interactions with Suigetsu. The silver haired man was a mercenary, well known and feared in the criminal underworld. When Sasuke had defected from Konoha, he joined up with him briefly to help him track down and kill his brother. Suigestu had a peculiar ability to remain underwater for an absurdly long time without any sort of oxygen tank. He also seemed to heal unusually fast when submerged in water. Sasuke only asked him about it once, and his response had been: "Some real fucked up lab experiments. Crazy shit. But that's what you get for signing on with a psycho genius. Wouldn't want to go through it again but I ain't mad about the results."

Honestly he was mad he hadn't made the connection sooner. Even on the off chance these killings weren't done by the same psycho genius who dicked around with Suigetsu's anatomy, the mercenary still had his ears to the ground on all sorts of criminal activity. He'd surely know something.

"—Right." Sakura said with a determined nod.

"You got it Kakashi-sensei! Let's get to work! Believe it!" Naruto loudly affirmed.

Sasuke stood up abruptly. "I need to make a call."

He quickly strode out of the room.

* * *

"Well if it isn't Sasuke. Been a long time pal."

"Suigetsu. Who was it who experimented on you?"

"Always right to business with you, isn't it."

"Who was it?"

"Why so curious?"

"I'm working on a case with two victims who went through extreme experimentation. I believe your words were 'real fucked up lab experiments.'"

"Why should I tell you? I never got paid for the last time I helped you out."

"Actually you did. I broke into Kirigakure evidence lock up and stole Momochi's sword for you."

"Yeah you did do that…Was that really all I asked for? Man I shoulda demanded money too."

"I'll pay you. Five hundred for your answer."

"Five hun—Shit why so stingy, man? Didn't you inherit billions with the entire Uchiha estate?"

"Five hundred, and I won't turn you and mountains of evidence over to Kirigakure. Last I checked you're still number one in their bingo books and they love that death penalty."

"What you really think I wouldn't spill the tea on you?"

"I've already confessed to everything and been cleared. I'm under Konoha's protection. No one's protecting you though."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line.

"…You're a real asshole, you know that?"

"News to me. Now talk."

"Orochimaru. There was some other guy working with him too but I was in peak guinea pig mode and pretty out of it. Never caught his name or face. Your case sounds right up his alley. Haven't caught wind of anyone else pulling shit like that."

"How does he abduct his targets?"

"That'll be another five hundred and continued blind eye."

"Fine."

"He targets violent power hungry degenerates. Offers them power and they come running. The ones that don't come willingly are traded to him by a shady criminal ring called Akatsuki. Word is he used to be a part of them but they had some sort of internal dispute and he left. They still maintain some kind of working relationship though. Not too much is known about them but they're bad news. Like runs the darkest parts of the dark web bad. There's a rumor that your brother's actually a member, which explains why we had such a hard time finding him."

Sasuke nearly broke his phone with how tight his grip got. The anger stabbed him repeatedly in his heart, stomach, lungs. It left him winded, his pulse pounding furiously through his veins, filling him with an intense desire to hurt everyone around him.

"Your money will be in your account by tomorrow." He abruptly hung up. Turning, he rammed his fist into the brick wall of the back of the station. His filthy murderous brother was part of one of the darkest most corrupt organizations in the world. He shouldn't have been surprised. Tsunade had mentioned his brother's affiliation with them. But no one knew how bad they were—very little was known about them and their members. However now Sasuke had an idea of what they were like—the darkest parts of the dark web were nothing short of evil. They ran that. And his formerly beloved, now immensely loathed, big brother was a part of that. It was like Itachi was playing a game with himself of how much worse could he get. It made Sasuke sick.

He briefly considered going back inside but dismissed the idea. He was too riled up and would likely kill Naruto in this state. Instead he opted for going to the gym. He needed to beat something he was legally allowed to punch. He knew he was too angry to drive safely, so he caught a cab downtown.

* * *

Guy was the close combat instructor for the police force, as well as captain of the top SWAT team, comprised of Neji Hyuga, TenTen, and Rock Lee. Lee idolized Guy to a scary degree and Guy had more or less adopted him as a son. Since SWAT was a specialty unit, not often utilized, Lee and Guy had taken it upon themselves to open up several gyms and dojos throughout the city.

The first gym Lee had designed on his own was downtown and made no sense. Everything was on one open floor plan. Full gymnasts apparatuses and floor space shared the same area with punching bags, ellipticals, bench presses, weight racks, treadmills, and tons of other work out methods. Its strange layout made it one of the least popular and frequented gyms. Which was why it was one of Sasuke's favorites. He walked in to find it mercifully empty.

Shrugging off his leather jacket and button down, he squared up with a punching bag, fueled rage towards his brother. Rage at how low his brother had sunk. Rage at how Itachi had one-eighty-ed from his favorite person on the planet to his greatest enemy. Rage at how he had murdered their entire family—killed their mother and father in front of him. Rage at how he had left him alive. Rage at himself for allowing his brother to walk the earth this long. Rage at himself for almost becoming the same as him.

He pulled back his punch, ready to break through the sandbag with one hit, when the memory of a flash of pink stopped him short. He turned to look out at the empty gymnastics apparatuses and recalled the other reason why he always came to this gym. This was the gym that Sakura used to always go to. This was where he'd first learned of her skill as a gymnast:

* * *

_Team 7 had just closed a domestic assault case. The almost hadn't made it in time. They came in to the horrible scene of a man beating his girlfriend bloody. Naruto charged in to stop him and wrestled him for a bit until the man managed to throw him off. In that time Sakura had run to the woman who was nearly unconscious. The man saw Sakura attempting to get the woman away and punched her so hard, she fell, the woman she was supporting falling with her. Sasuke and Naruto both tackled the man and successfully wrestled cuffs on to him. _

_Sakura had been unusually silent during the debriefing. Sasuke figured she was bothered by the case. The abuse the woman suffered had been brutal. She remained stonily silent throughout the entire car ride to her apartment. _

_The next day, when Sasuke got off work, he felt the need to blow off steam. He'd made no progress on finding Itachi. He felt like he was just sitting around. He wasn't getting stronger, he didn't have any leads, and he didn't have any answers. He needed to work off his agitation. _

_The problem was Sasuke had a big issue when it came to gyms. There were too many people, specifically girls. Specifically fangirls. He needed to work off the kinetic energy build up in his muscles though, so he looked up the least popular Gyms in Konoha. _

_The first hit was Leaf Hurricane. One of Lee's gyms downtown. The comments indicated that very few people went to this gym and very few happened to be Sasuke's favorite number of people. _

_When he got there he could see why. The layout was awful. Lee's other gym's were much better which he guessed had to do with Neji and TenTen's design input. But the equipment worked and 'very few' might have been an understatement. He'd be able to work out in peace here. That's when a flash of pink caught Sasuke's attention._

_He turned to see a woman on the balance beam. Her short pink hair tied in a low pony tail. He watched as she did several back handsprings, an arial, and then a flip that she landed in a kneeling position on one leg, the other dangling over the side of the beam. She then kicked the dangling leg up and over bring her body upright in some sort of cart wheel. She spun several times on one leg before continuing the spin in the air, landing perfectly, and starting another handspring pass across._

_It was strange. Never would Sasuke have called Sakura clumsy, but he'd never thought of attaching the word graceful to her until now. She moved with so much calm, control and balance, that she made complex flips look as easy as walking. There was such clean precision to her movements that she never once lost balance on the narrow precarious beam. She flowed from one move to the next so naturally she made it seem like the connection was intuitive. Sasuke could do a handspring, and he knew for a fact that none of what she was doing was intuitive. That came to a head when he watched her hold her leg up if front of her face and then just fall forward into a perfect split. _

_It was something that had to have hurt, but Sakura's face was so placid he wondered if she even felt it. He watched in fascination as her calm expression began to change a little. He eyes narrowed slightly, her brows gently furrowing. She let out a huff that was something between dejected and frustrated, shifting so she was sitting up facing out legs dangling. She looked up and froze when she saw Sasuke. There was a long pause before Sakura braved the silence._

_"Uh, hey Sasuke-kun. What are you doing here?"_

_"Working out."_

_"This is hardly convenient for you."_

_"Fewer people."_

_"Fewer pe—ohhh." Her eyes scanned him up and down before she blushed and looked away._

_"I can work out in peace."_

_"That makes sense. Sure sucks being hot, huh?" As soon as the words left her mouth she tensed._

_"It's a burden." Sasuke agreed. Sakura let out a bewildered huff._

_"How long have you been there?"_

_"Long enough."_

_"So you saw?"_

_"How long?"_

_"Since I was three."_

_"Competitive?"_

_"In high school. Regional champion."_

_"Why'd you stop?"_

_"Coaches, judges, competitions. They stop treating you like a person, more like a product. It's alienating."_

_"Sucks to be the best, hn?"_

_"It's a burden." Sakura agreed. Her eyes lit with a mischievous happiness that had been missing._

_"So you did beam?"_

_"I was an all-arounder. Bars and floor are my favorite."_

_"So why are you doing beam?"  
"Cause I was frustrated. Don't want to taint my favorites with frustration."_

_"Was?"_

_"Still am."_

_"Better get to vault then."_

_She laughed and made her way to the spring board, while Sasuke began his assault on the punching bag. He couldn't believe how different their frustration releases were. Yes, they were both physical activity, but Sasuke's came out in ragged, sloppy, abrasive strikes while hers was so controlled, precise, and relaxed. He respected her ability to channel her emotions so carefully to create something. All his did was fuel destruction. _

_Frustration usually lasted hours if not days inside him. Strangely, he felt his frustration dying down at an unusually fast rate. Instead it was being replaced by the curious need to watch Sakura's mesmerizing movements. Watching her flip through the air had a hypnotic effect on him, so while his body went on autopilot attacking the sandbag, his attention stayed on Sakura as she launched herself incredibly high._

_They continued on that way for an hour, Sakura bouncing back and forth between apparatuses, Sasuke mechanically destroying the sandbag while his focus remained on her. _

_"Why are you frustrated?" Sasuke called out as she twirled across the beam._

_"Cause I was useless again." She spat back through an arial._

_Sasuke replayed the day before in his memory before shaking his head. "You weren't useless."_

_Sakura looked back at him from her hand stand as he robotically punched away. "I was sprawling with one punch and brought the victim down with me."_

_"You went to the victim first. You cared about her while Naruto and I cared about winning a fight. That's not useless."_

_Sakura cartwheeled out of her handstand and stood staring at Sasuke. _

_After a few seconds she asked, "Why are you frustrated?"_

_"No leads."_

_"Have you checked with cyber crimes yet?"_

_"No. Why?"_

_"Konoha protocol is to freeze all their bank accounts when someone defects. You need money to survive in this world and the quickest way for someone like him to earn it would be gun for hire. If he were doing it analog, you would have already caught a lead by now from someone who saw him. That means he's likely using a cyber bulletin to get jobs."_

_Sasuke froze mid punch. Why hadn't he thought of that? It was brilliant. Not only had his frustration melted away, but a new tracking route had opened up._

_"Heh. I'll look into it."_

_Sakura smiled. _

* * *

Coming to Leaf Hurricane together had become a common practice after that day. It was his first time coming to this gym since he returned to Konoha. In his upset, his mind had habitually directed him here. His rage dissipated completely at the memory of Sakura dancing around, fairy-like in her grace with her petal pink hair swirling around her. Was this what it meant to love someone, or just like them? He still didn't have a clear grasp on the strength of his feelings or what they meant. But Naruto said he felt calm listening to Hinata. Sasuke felt calm just thinking of Sakura. That meant…

"Ah fuck…I'm comparing myself to the Dead Last now." He grumbled.

Sasuke left the gym feeling much calmer, without having thrown a single punch.

* * *

**Authors note: **I'm sorry I took so long, life's been weird! But I finally finished! I make a really conscious effort to not have Sasuke focus on Sakura physically. I'm sure he finds her pretty but he's never struck me as a character who is attracted to people on a physical basis. Sasuke has always respected skill, strength, and tenacity and I think that's what he really finds attractive about Sakura. Anyways, thanks to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed! Please continue to do so, they are excellent motivators!

Do not take any of the science I use seriously. I try to root the science I use in real concepts but I'm working off of my memory from middle and high school bio, and whatever I manage to glean from wikipedia. I'm an arts kid and while I love science I'm not going to begin to claim any sort of understanding, so don't use me as any sort of valid source.


	10. Chapter 10

**I don't own Naruto. There are disturbing concepts in this chapter though nothing too graphic.**

* * *

An orange sleeved hand deposited a cup ramen and a pair of chopsticks in front of her. She tore her eyes from her computer screen and up the arm to the tan whiskered face grinning down at her.

"Ramen. Why am I not surprised." She laughed lightly.

"Can't have our MVP collapsing of starvation, can we Sakura-chan?"

Naruto pulled his desk chair closer to hers and sat down with his own cup of ramen. The wave of nostalgia hit Sakura hard. How long had it been since they'd done this?

"MVP? I always thought that title belonged to our number one knuckle head detective."

Naruto chuckled. "Nah. Not this time. This time it's all you."

"Ok, spill. What's with all the flattery?"

"Nothing gets past you, huh?" Naruto sighed, and looked down at his noodles. "I'm really sorry about yesterday Sakura-chan. I should have said something when the Bastard was talking all that bullshit. I know you're strong and can kick my ass seven ways to Sunday. I should have said something. Sorry Sakura-chan."

Naruto was the kind of person she became easily angered with but couldn't stay angry at for long. As far as she was concerned she'd already forgiven him last night.

"Why didn't you?" She asked with out a trace of bitterness. She was just curious.

"Cause y'know…I'll always want to protect you. Just cause I know you can take care of yourself doesn't mean I want you to have to."

"Ok." Sakura smiled, "but imply I'm weak again and I'll completely cut you off from ramen. I can do it—don't test me. A lot of people owe me favors."

Naruto choked on his noodles, his eyes widening to the size of tennis balls. "You wouldn't! That's evil Sakura-chan! Not my ramen! I swear I'll never say you're weak again, believe it!"

She burst out laughing. She couldn't help it, Naruto took ramen more seriously than his own life. No matter who you were, it was objectively funny to see. Naruto eased when he saw her laughing, a smile replacing his previous terror. It had been so long since he'd seen her laugh like this.

"You still like Sasuke, don't you Sakura-chan."

Now it was her turn to choke on her noddles. "W-what?"

"You still like him, right?"

How her bone headed, oblivious, surrogate brother had picked up on what she tried so hard to hide was beyond her…but the last thing she wanted to do was explain it to him right now. Of course, she didn't really have an option. Naruto was a persistent one with a strong aversion to giving up on anything—ever.

"Still?…I never stopped." She muttered into her cup, avoiding his gaze.

She jolted up at his bark of laughter. "Really Sakura-chan, and people call me the persistent one."

This wasn't the response she'd been expecting…she wasn't really sure what she was expecting, but it wasn't that. It must have shown on her face, because Naruto laughed again, his summer sky blue eyes twinkling with mirth. "Come on Sakura-chan! Everyone tells me I'm the most persistent and stubborn person they ever met for aiming for Prime Minister since I was eleven, but I think you might actually beat me on that front. Dreaming of the same job for fifteen years is a lot easier than dreaming of the same person for seven. Dreaming of a person hurts way more. That takes a hell of a lot more strength."

She was quite taken aback at that. Not that she should have been. Naruto could brighten up a funeral. It was one of his superpowers. A small smile fought its way onto her lips as she shook her head.

"I wouldn't say that. Ardently pursuing a dream despite everyone telling you it's impossible—that takes a lot of strength Naruto."

"Yeah but my dream never told me it was impossible from its own mouth. He aggressively shot you down for three and a half years. And you still liked him but were ok with just being his friend—respect, Sakura-chan!"

"Yeah well, If you're going to tell me to give up on him now, save your breath. Him leaving wasn't enough to move me on. Your opinion certainly won't." She sighed resignedly. His blond head shook frantically.

"No way! I think that bastard needs someone as good as you! He far from deserves you but he needs you and—" He stopped short and looked around, trying to decide whether to finish his thought. Sakura raised her eyebrows, trying to gauge where his statement had been going. Naruto met her expectant look, and with a hesitant breath, decided to continue. "Well…it's just…I think he's trying. Badly. But still, trying. He's probably as oblivious and bad at feelings as I was with Hinata-chan, until you slapped some sense into me. But I think he's thinking of you a lot and I think it's driving him crazy. He was so moody that past four months whenever your name was brought up and I think he really missed you. And not just cause of Team 7 or anything, but you. I think he really just missed you, Sakura-chan."

The look he was giving her was so sincere that she found it impossible not to believe him. This wasn't coming from herself and her tendency to overthink and over analyze, or Ino making psychological speculations, this was coming from Naruto who was incredibly close to both her and Sasuke. He'd noticed a change in their friend's behavior in regards to her as well. It wasn't in her head. He also thought there might be something more to Sasuke's feelings for her than just 'friend.'

Her face began warming at his words and in the attempt to hide it from him, she quickly dropped her head to shovel more ramen into her mouth. "Thanks Naruto." She said, a small smile blossoming behind her chopsticks. Naruto grinned his sunshine smile before inhaling the rest of his ramen. It was quiet for a second before Naruto asked, "Hey Sakura-chan, what does 'ardently' mean?"

Sakura's face almost dropped into her soup. "Seriously Naruto, I support your dream 100% but you need to buff up your vocabulary if you're going to become Prime Minister."

* * *

Sakura was doing her absolute best not to shatter her computer screen with her fist. None of her medical leads were panning out to be remotely useful. None of the big supply companies had any unregistered private buyers. She still hadn't been able to isolate the components of the chemical in the victim's blood. Aside from a few angels of death who'd already been caught, none of the five nations had turned up any evil geniuses with a medical background. Her excitement at the discovery yielded by the autopsy had long since worn off and had been replaced by a disturbed feeling that tied knots in her stomach. Time was ticking by and they were no closer to finding this asshole. What was she even doing here? She should be in a surgery right now, saving someones life, or giving a diagnosis, or treating a patient. The hospital was where she was most useful. That had been proven by her past uselessness on cases.

She almost audibly growled. Naruto had gone off with Hinata to question all the human traffickers they already had put away about any potential connection to Tatsuya. Missing persons always kept an eye on human traffickers incase any connected organizations were related to their cases, so it made sense for Hinata to go with him, given that she was familiar with them already. Sasuke had come back an hour after his mysterious phone call, stoic as ever, and immediately got to work researching…Sakura couldn't tell, she was too busy with her own research. That and she already had a hard enough time keeping her mind focused and away from Sasuke. Studying his every move would be counter productive. But she was so frustratingly aware of him, she always had been, but the awareness seemed to have tripled since her conversations with Ino and Naruto. The way his eyes kept watching her reflection in his screen. The way they lingered on her whenever he passed by. The way he casually deposited a cup of hot jasmine tea next to her a couple hours back. Come on, that was practically begging her to read into it. Her mind kept whispering for her to overanalyze it just for something to do. It beat staring at her computer screen as the small spiral leaf symbol of Konoha spun. She'd been stuck on this loading page for half an hour in search of Orochimaru's files. Everything she tried, the search came up empty. The court, police, academy, and university databases had all come up empty. Now she was onto the hospital database and the damn thing wouldn't even load. And she could tell Sasuke was looking at her again, and holy fucking shit she just wanted to punch something.

"Bones?"

"What?" She turned to see Sasuke fully facing her in his chair.

"You've been muttering different bone names and how they connect for the last 45 minutes."  
"Hm. Hadn't noticed. Grounding habit."

"Last time it was math problems. Or the entirety of the criminal law book."

"Yeah well a lot's changed since last time. Like my profession. Or hadn't you noticed." She bit out, annoyance seeping into her voice.

"Let's spar."

"What?" That came out of no where. The shock made her fully face him.

"Let's spar." Was he serious right now? If she was being honest with herself, the offer was tempting. She really really wanted to punch something and here was one of her sources of frustration offering to be punched. Another part of her brain was disconcerted by how he'd known…was her composure slipping or did he know her as upsettingly well as she thought he did? She really couldn't keep anything from him, could she?

She glanced back at her computer screen. It was still loading—it would still be loading for the foreseeable future. It was already 6pm. Totally reasonable time to clock out…her mind was failing to come up with a good excuse to get her out of the offer. Other than it feeling wrong to go blow off some steam while they should be looking for a psychotic scientist trying to play god.

"If you're worried about ditching work, then you can use me as an excuse. I haven't seen you fight yet so I'm still not sure if you're a liability out in the field or not."

She would have been insulted, but she could see he didn't believe it. Maybe he was curious to see her in action, but he seemed to believe she could handle herself. She could tell by how he threw away the statement. It wasn't a demand nor did he dwell on her potentially being a liability. It was as if he said it while rolling his eyes, except that he hadn't. Quite genuinely, he was just handing her a justification. And somehow it worked. Besides, she really really really wanted to punch something.

"Fine. One second." Syncing her phone with her computer's search was a must, she didn't want to miss out on any potential results just cause she'd been too impatient. Gathering the rest of her belongings, and her phone which now displayed the same loading screen as her computer had, she turned to Sasuke.

He nodded, messenger bag in place, before heading off with Sakura close behind.

* * *

Interestingly, the gym Sasuke took them to for the spar was Leaf Hurricane. It made sense, since he was trying to recreate old habits and they always used to come here together. It was also closer to her place and empty, completely practical. However, it was strange. Sakura still came here occasionally, but her visits had become far less frequent since Sasuke had left. The memories always super imposed themselves on her surroundings like a ghost haunting her. So she switched to Primary Lotus, which was closer to the hospital anyway.

She wasn't sure how to feel about how easy it was to walk in with him. Like he'd never left. Like the place hadn't been haunted with the ghost of his past self. And when they squared off on the sprung gymnastics floor, which they long ago discovered made for quite the fun spar, she tried not to dwell on how her heart fluttered while looking at him. Of course, that didn't mean she wasn't still angry, or that she didn't still want to punch him.

He seemed to be waiting for her to make the first move, standing gracefully in his stance she vaguely recognized as Taekwondo. That was new. When he left he'd only been a master of Japanese martial arts. It was unsurprising that he'd picked up new styles—that had been one of his motivations for leaving: he perceived his skill and growth had hit a plateau. He'd looked right into her face and told her that she and Naruto were making him complacent and weak, despite her tears and her desperate confes—focus. Now wasn't the time to be lost in past failures, she had to keep her mind on the situation at hand. Sakura narrowed her eyes, catching every detail of his stance. His left fist was clenched a touch tighter than his right, not surprising given that while Sasuke ate and wrote with his right hand, he favored his left for shooting and punching. His weight was evenly distributed, waiting to see what she would do.

He'd be waiting a long time. Lady Tsunade's laws of combat/field medicine played through her head as she studied him. 1. No combat/field medic shall ever stop treatment until the lives of their patients come to an end. 2. No combat/field medic shall ever stand on the front lines or initiate combat. 3. Combat/field medics must avoid fights and injury until they are the last of their platoon. 4. Only those who've mastered Lady Tsunade's combat training and evasion will be given clearance to break the first three rules in order to protect themselves or patients from harm.

Sakura was the only medic to accomplish rule number four, with the exception of Lady Tsunade herself. She was permitted to fight, and this was far from a 'battle field' situation, but she still wasn't about to attack first. That was a crucial part of Lady Tsunade's training, which proved a far more effective combat style for Sakura than anything else she had learned during her time on the force.

Sasuke seemed to be growing impatient, his eyes narrowed dangerously. With a very quick shift of his weight he charged, swinging a kick at her. Sakura made quick use of her flexibility, bending back so his leg swung over her, elbowing him hard in his extended leg and sending him off balance. She dropped fully, supporting her weight on her right hand as she kicked at his shoulder with her left foot. Unbalanced and surprised by the rapid and strange combination, Sasuke only just managed to catch her leg, yanking her to the right. She fell hard, but immediately rolled out of the way as Sasuke's left fist slammed into the floor where she'd been only milliseconds before. She broke out of her roll, sweeping her leg across the back of his with such force that she actually managed to get him to fully fall to the ground. He didn't stay grounded for long and had gracefully flipped on to his feet, Sakura matching him in leaping up and away to create some distance. Her best shot at staying ahead in this spar was to keep turning his own moves against him, and the more distance she had, the more time to analyze his actions.

He came at her again with a series of kicks, but she had already guessed he would do that from the way he shifted his weight. That and her knowledge that Taekwondo was a style that favored kicks. She dodged his endless barrage, weaving, jumping and flipping away, her eyes never leaving him, barely even blinking. Sasuke's feet planted, coming at her with a punch. The shift had been sudden, a complete style switch, and so subtle she almost didn't catch it. He was fast and she didn't have time to dodge the way she had been, forcing her to catch his fist instead. Not ideal, Sasuke punched hard. But she punched harder. In the instant she caught his fist she threw her first punch of the spar, incredibly fast and hard. Sasuke barely managed to shift so she collided with his shoulder instead of his chest. The force of the hit sent him back several meters, his freed left hand flying to his dislocated right shoulder.

"How many sandbags did you break?" He asked straightening.

"All of them." She couldn't help the swell of pride inside her.

"Hn." He smirked, even as he winced from the pain of popping his shoulder back in place.

"Good thing you moved."

"Yeah. A hit like that would have shattered a few ribs."

"And caused internal trauma, likely puncturing the lungs, cause temporary arrhythmia due to shock, and a fair amount of internal bleeding."

Sasuke's smirk widened. "Good thing I moved." He rolled his shoulder once, then very suddenly charged her again. He was incredibly fast. If it weren't for her quick reflexes and reaction time, she'd have been on the floor. His relentless speed and constant switches in fighting style left her little time to analyze and counter. It was all she could do to keep dodging. Sasuke was faster than Lady Tsunade, employing a range of different styles and techniques, but Lady Tsunade hit a hell of a lot harder and never pulled her punches or kicks. Sakura had gotten very used to dodging for her life during her training, sometimes for hours on end. She prayed his stamina hadn't increased as exponentially as his skills. She saw a brief opening and aimed a powerful kick at his hip, but he caught her leg, grimacing at the force. His irises tinged red, maximizing the visual and analytical abilities granted to him by his genetic inheritance. In a way it was gratifying, he'd never felt the need to use his ability when sparring with Sakura in the past.

"What technique is that?"

"Come on, I trained my ass off for this. You'll have to work a bit harder than that." She ducked a punch and switched her strategy, tackling him to the floor. He hadn't been expecting that. She slammed in to him with the same strength and force she had put into the punches and kicks, sending them both sprawling.

Sakura leaned her forearm near his throat, pressing into his upper left arm to immobilize it. She couldn't believe she actually pinned Sasuke. As strong as she'd gotten since he left, she'd never expected to best him. It didn't register how close she was to him until she was staring into his jewel red eyes. They were so near and somehow seemed to be getting nearer. It was like her mind was fogging over, his gaze was so hypnotic…no. Focus. She pressed down harder, her forearm inching closer to his neck. Then he started smirking, and despite knowing the medical implausibility of it, her heart dropped into her stomach.

"Hn. You're definitely not a liability." She felt his chuckle, and deep voice vibrating against her. All hope of focus flew from her mind. The pressure she had been applying lessened in her shock at him: his eyes, his voice, his smirk, his almost tangible aura pressing around them, and most of all his blatant acknowledgment. That was a mistake. A rookie one.

It took no time at all for Sasuke to flip their positions, pinning her beneath him, her wrists clasped in each of his hands, his feet hooking beneath her knees immobilizing her legs. A fight was never over until the opponent was dead, rendered incapable to continue the battle, or surrendered. She never should have lost her focus and loosened her hold on him. He wasn't loosening his grip, red eyes boring endlessly into hers.

He was so close. And he wasn't moving away. Time expanded so seconds felt like hours. There was something in his eyes she couldn't quite identify. The smirk was slipping very slowly from his face, replaced with an intensity so tangible she could have been pinned in a thunder cloud.

"Do you know why your eyes turn red?" The words breathed out of her, barely a whisper. She wasn't sure what made her say it, she didn't know why she whispered, it just felt right to.

Sasuke didn't give a verbal answer. He simply cocked his head slightly, somehow seeming closer than before. Was that just her imagination?

"When you fully access your heightened sense of visual perception, your body pumps more blood to your optic nerves and ocular muscles. The increase in blood flow to your iris, pupil, lens, and retina cuts through the pigment in the iris, temporarily dying it red…" The words tumbled out in a whisper. She wasn't even sure why she spoke them. She must have been trying to subconsciously ground herself by spitting out medical facts. Even in a situation like this…what a sexy habit she developed for herself.

"How do you know?" He said it so quietly yet she felt every deep vocal vibration as clearly as she felt his breath fanning her face. She became vaguely aware that he had released one of her wrists, bringing his hand to the space between her head and arm, yet she still felt utterly paralyzed.

"I…I studied it." She tired desperately to fight the way her face was reddening. It was a losing battle.

"Why?" She wasn't sure whether she heard him say it or felt him breath it.

Why? Because she wanted to be close to him. To understand him. To help him how ever she could. Because she cared about him and wanted to make sure he was ok. She couldn't say any of that. Her dazedness and blush had already betrayed her, he had to know she still felt very strongly about him. But she wouldn't allow her words to betray just how strongly she felt, not yet at least. She wasn't ready to say it to him yet.

"I'll tell you later." She murmured. It felt like she was moving through water with only a very dim awareness of what she was doing when she reached up with her free hand and poked him in the forehead with her pointer and middle fingers.

Sasuke looked stricken. It was with first time she'd seen him look so flagrantly shocked…was he…blushing?

He still hadn't released her, hadn't broken eye contact. The shock slowly began to melt into confused warmth. The paralyzing intensity was back in full force. He was only centimeters away but despite how her body screamed for her to close the gap, her emotions glued her in place. There seemed to be some inner debate raging in Sasuke. His muscles kept tensing and releasing against her. The warmth in his eyes remained but she could see conflict playing through them. Not that she was clear on what exactly that conflict was. The tension around them kept building.

A loud ding shattered the moment. He leapt off her like her proximity burned him and she jumped up equally as fast to grab her phone, simultaneously thrilled and disappointed at the distance.

She checked the notification. Orochimaru's full file had finally loaded.

* * *

Sakura sat next to Ageha's hospital bed looking over the file she'd been struggling with for the past hour and forty five minutes. After the notification had come in, she'd been unable to justify putting it off. It was too late to go back to the station and she was too keyed up from whatever just happened between her and Sasuke to go home. She needed something to take her mind off of that, which was exceedingly difficult. She found her prized focus kept slipping. Sasuke had been about to take her home when she asked him to take her to the hospital instead. He agreed begrudgingly. Nothing focused her mind like patients and although Ageha was no longer her patient, Sakura was her emergency contact. She was only a little girl and had no one else. The girl was currently asleep, hooked up to an IV, oxygen pumping into her nose. It was a sad sight to see on such a young kid. She'd been asleep since Sakura had gotten there, but as always the rhythmic hum of the heart monitor helped ground her, focusing her mind. She'd taken a seat next to the bed and begun pouring over Orochimaru's file.

Blood type B. Entered medical training program at age 16…he was a prodigy. His records were glowing…almost as good as Tsunade's, until things took a turn. He diverged from the path she had been on, of healing medicines, and treating patients, into the realm of research and experimentation. Supervisors, teachers, and mentors remarked that despite his brilliance and deep curiosity, he also displayed a disregard for ethics, pitching experiments that were far outside the realms of medical morality. He was finally thrown out of the program for following through on one of his experiments without the clearance from his supervisor. Most disturbing were his essays. That's what she was currently trying to stomach.

"_Human beings are fundamentally flawed. We depend on delicate internal systems to keep us functioning—systems that fail at least once in any given lifetime. Systems that break when subjected to external trauma. Systems that cause the whole body to defect with one mutation to its genetic code. These failings could not only be corrected by direct change to the genetic code, but the body itself could be enhanced. Humans have claimed superiority over the animal kingdom, but our bodies are not the strongest. We don't have the natural weapons built into our physic. Lacking in the claws and muscle mass of animals physically superior, our survival comes down to external weapons, and when lacking in those, our own wit. We have long since prided ourselves on being the most intelligent of animals, but our intelligence has begun to plateau. Chimps, elephants, cephalopods are all incredibly intelligent and learning to become even more so. But there is a way to ensure we remain superior. Our natural evolution has become stagnant, but we now have the capability to control how we evolve. Self designed evolution is our new future. We can enhance our muscles, our senses, our skin density. We can increase our longevity. Eliminate disease. Old age. Disabilities. We can make ourselves gods. Direct editing to our genomes would allow for us to become an entirely superior species. We have the capability to engineer ourselves to be stronger, faster, more beautiful. The mythological beings we named gods, demons, angels, devils, may have been nothing more than creatures of genetic superiority. We can now become those beings by designing our own evolutionary future…"_

Sakura tore her eyes away from the essay feeling sick. Ideologically speaking, it was a smoking gun. There were still more essays to go through, she hadn't even finished reading this eugenic manifesto yet, but she felt repulsed and ill. There were few fields of medicine more called into ethical question than that of genetic engineering. On the surface, some of the eugenic rhetoric actually held some merit. If you could stop a baby from being born with a high likely hood to develop blood cancer, shouldn't you? No question. But what about a baby with a high likely hood for downs syndrome? Maybe…if it was preventable shouldn't it be prevented? But that then renders all of those who do have downs syndrome, and have been living just as well, as "less than," or "mistakes that weren't corrected." Sakura couldn't stomach that. It inherently implied that their lives were less important or held less dignity than others. Her eyes swept over Ageha. She was suffering from Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), a rare disease where the body produces too many immune cells, which in turn attack the internal organs. With some genetic engineering, her suffering may have been prevented, but would she still be Ageha? In preventing her HLH, what if the genetic change caused a domino effect and everything else changed as well? The science wasn't perfect yet. They didn't know what that shift might cause in her genes.

But Orochimaru's proposal went even further than just eradicating genetic based diseases. In pure mad scientist fashion, he talked about engineering a super human race. The concept of "superiority" was the driving force behind the entire paper. From where Sakura stood, might makes right was never a mindset that belonged in the realm of science.

"Sensei?"

Her eyes shot to Ageha, who was staring at her with a mix of exhaustion, joy, concern and confusion.

"Ageha-chan! You're awake!" Instinctually she began checking her vitals.

"They said you weren't my doctor anymore."

"That's right. You've got Dr. Yakushi now. They needed me to help with something at the police department. How would you rate your pain, 1-10?"

"4 right now. Yeah I know. I don't like him very much, he's not as nice as you Sensei."

Sakura looked up from the chart it now occurred to her she had no business filling in.

"Is he mean to you?" She asked sharply, concern bleeding into her tone.

"No, it's not that. He just feels…weird. Like he smiles but he doesn't mean it. When you smile I feel better, but when he smiles I feel worse."

"Hmm…He means well, and he has your care in mind, I promise. Some people just aren't great with people."

"I know…but I still like you more Sensei. You don't ask if I'm in pain, you already know the answer. You just ask me to rate it. And you don't talk to me like I'm stupid or try and keep things from me."

"Of course not. It's your body. You have a right to know and have a say in what's happening to it…and if anyone tries to keep you in the dark, tell them that, ok?"

She smiled and nodded just as Kabuto walked in.

"Sakura-san."

"Hello Senpai. I'm just visiting…Sorry I know it's not my place but I started filling in Ageha-chan's chart."

"Separation anxiety, right?"

"Eh, more like habit."

Kabuto flashed her a smile before turning to Ageha.

"Good morning Ageha-chan. Are you in any pain?"

The girl flashed Sakura a long suffering look. "Of course I'm in pain, my body's attacking itself," she muttered under her breath.

"I'm sorry, you'll have to speak a bit clearer."

"4 on the pain scale. Kabuto-sensei, it's 11pm. You don't need to wish me good morning."

Kabuto smiled at Ageha before looking over the chart Sakura had started filling in. "Well, you've done all the work here Sakura-san, so I'll just sign off on it for now. We'll be taking some more blood tomorrow morning, so you should get some rest, Ageha-chan."

"More? Didn't you just take some earlier?"

"There's nothing to worry about."

"Diseases like yours are really rare, so doctors need to do frequent blood tests to monitor how the disease is progressing, and if treatments are working." Sakura elaborated helpfully.

"Ok. That makes sense. Feels like a lot though." The girl sighed.

"Well I'll let you get some rest." Kabuto smiled once more at Ageha, gave a small bow to Sakura and left.

"I'll be right back, I just need to grab some coffee." Sakura said before running out after him.

* * *

"Senpai!" Kabuto turned to the pink haired medical prodigy chasing after him. He always wondered about her strange coloring. It surely couldn't be natural.

"Sorry, it's just my patients—well they're not mine anymore they're yours, but how are they doing? They were all pretty tough cases, are there any new developments or symptoms—are they doing alright? Actually—don't answer that, it'd be a doctor-patient confidentiality violation. I'm sorry, it's just—"

"Separation anxiety?"

"Yeah…I'm sorry. I don't mean to insult your abilities or anything. I'm sure you're taking care of everyone just fine…"  
"Not at all Sakura-san. It's quite admirable how you care for your patients. Although I wonder if you maybe care a little too much…"

Sakura looked affronted. "I'd rather care too much than not at all Senpai."

"Of course. I'm taking care of your patients Sakura-san. There's nothing to worry about."

"Thank you, I mean it."

"Sakura-san, may I ask you something?" His eyes lingered on the silky pink strands of her hair.

"Sure! Shoot."

"Your hair…You dye it, right?"

"Nah, it's natural. Weird color right?"

"Certainly unusual." He agreed with interest. "How…?"

"It was some strange mutation. My dad's got red hair and my mom's blond. Both are recessive traits and when they got paired, since there was no dominant allele, there was no way for the trait to express itself so it mutated. Pink hair."

"Fascinating. You're a mutant."

Sakura laughed. "Technically yes, but without the cool superhero powers. Anyway I need to grab some coffee. Thanks again for looking after everyone!" She smiled an ice melting smile before dancing off to the elevators.

* * *

Ageha was asleep again. Fatigue was an every present symptom Ageha experienced. Sakura sat clammy, reading Orochimaru's sickening manifestos on genetic manipulation.

_"Just as a computer is run by code, so too are humans. One might say we are slaves to our genetics, as they dictate everything from our appearance to our brain chemistry and by extension our behavior. But if computer code is programable, so too are our genetics. By combining the right genetic sequences, we could create the perfect soldier: strong muscle mass, increased stamina, team mentality, obedient. The perfect sex worker: perfect facial symmetry, appealing body proportions, immense need for sexual activity. Even the perfect mate, designed to be attracted to the pheromones and traits of the designer, or commissioner. Humans are really no different than androids, our choices and needs mapped down to our genetic code. Free will is really something of an illusion. It exists but only within the parameters of our individual genetic codes. The choice to not save someone dangling from an unstable cliff is a result of our genetic instinct for survival. Conversely, the choice to save someone in that same situation is the result of that individuals genetic predisposition towards prosocial behavior or the increased production of empathy related chemical processes. We keep operating as blind slaves to our genetics, laboring under the illusion of free will. Instead we should embrace these codes and start using them to our advantage, engineering them to suite us rather than allowing them to control us as they have so far."_

Sakura thought she might puke. He really truly checked all the boxes on the mad scientist front. She numbly found her way up the hospital stairwell and out onto the roof. The cool October air washed over her, making her feel as if she'd been dowsed by water. She leaned against the concrete barrier, chewing on her bottom lip anxiously. She felt clammy, nauseated, and off balance. Her muscles twitched with nervous kinetic energy that made her normally steady hands tremble.

Lady Tsunade really thought Sakura was capable of rivaling this guys medical expertise? He was a warped genius years ago when Tsunade knew him and now he actually had the skill to put his demented theories into practice—which he may have been doing for years, and they were only seeing the results of now. There was no way she'd be able to keep up with a psychotic genius prodigy like that. She hadn't even been able to keep up with the geniuses and prodigies in the academy. Her own teammates had left her in the dust long before she even left the force—and one of them was supposed to be a total idiot. What would she realistically be able to do against this level of twisted ingenuity? His thoughts, his essays, his experiments, were so incredibly evil and twisted and wrong. But they were also brilliant. Up until doing that first autopsy, she would have thought all of his ideas to be medically and scientifically impossible. But she had the proof of it. Even with how sickening his theories were—she'd heard DNA compared to computer code, but never the extended analogy of programming and treating the two codes the same. It was thrilling and incredibly disturbing. What would she, with her perfectly calibrated moral compass, and recently acquired medical skill, be able to do against an experienced scientist who saw human life as nothing more than biochemical androids to be engineered?

"I…I can't do this…" She whispered to herself. It was the first time on the whole case that she felt so completely overwhelmed, hopeless, and out of her league. Like how she always used to feel. She hadn't changed at all, had she? She was still a useless little girl overwhelmed and paralyzed by just how evil people could be. "Damn. I thought I was passed this…" she growled. Tears she was determinately fighting burned at her eyes. She bowed her head, closed her eyes and took deep steadying breaths. She could practically feel her environment shift around her as she was overtaken by a recollection of the first time she'd felt this profound lack of confidence:

_After Squad 7's excellent work busting the Gato Crime Syndicate, they were recommended to take a promotional exam. It turned out that the rest of their old academy class had been recommended for it as well, along with a team who graduated the year before them. That team's mentor held back from recommending them for a year so they could get more experience. Naruto and Sasuke were thrilled at the prospect of a promotion. It was the first time Naruto was excited by the prospect of an exam. But Sakura had been dreading it. She hadn't contributed much on cases, she was terrible in the field, often instructed to protect or remove civilians from the area, which she knew was code for "stay out of the way." The few times she'd tried to be of use on the field, she ended up a hostage with a knife at her neck. She didn't belong at a promotional exam. She hadn't done anything worthy of promotion. But her teammates had, so how could she refuse to take the exam? The second she showed up at their old academy, in the crowed of her brilliant, genius, specialist classmates, she knew she'd made a mistake in participating. She didn't belong or deserve to be there._

_"Sakura-chan! Over here! What took you so long? You're not usually late!"_

_"Morning Naruto. Sorry guys…I just," one look at his excited face and she couldn't bring herself to tell him that she almost hadn't come, "overslept this morning." She lied, Naruto easily buying it. She felt eyes on her and turned to see Sasuke staring. Normally that would excite her, but now she just felt guilty. They had to enter as a team and she'd almost left them hanging. Part of her was betting that they'd have to pass as a team, and it would probably be her fault when they didn't. _

_"Good morning Sasuke-kun." She said, forcing a smile on to her face._

_"…Yeah." _

_She looked back at their old academy with a feeling of looming dread, unaware of Naruto's incessant chatter about how their whole class was here, or of how Sasuke continued to study her out of the corner of his eye. She trailed after them as they made their way into the building. Their test was supposed to take place in room 301. When they reached the third floor, a large crowed had formed a few meters to the left of the stairwell. Two older officers were blocking a door into a classroom. Above it hung the sign marking it as 301. _

_"Please let us through! We have to get to our test!" A boy with a bowl cut and an atrocious green spandex suit was pleading with the two older officers._

_"You really think a pathetic weakling like you deserves to be promoted?" Asked one of the two officers, roughly shoving the boy away, causing him to fall. Whispers and outcries against his treatment raced through the crowd. Naruto and Sasuke started moving in for a closer look, Sakura made to follow them but stopped almost immediately. Something was weird about the numbering on this floor. It had only been a few months since they graduated the academy, but Sakura remembered having class in 301, and hadn't it been to the right of the stairs? They wouldn't have changed the room numbers, would they? Buildings liked this were often built so there floors were copies of one another, which her memory of learning here verified as true. There were seven classrooms per hall. Evens stair-side, odds opposite, with 01-03 to the right of the stairs and 04-07 to the left. Based on what she'd glimpsed of the first and second floors coming up the stairs, 05 was still on the left of the stairwell. So why was 301 to the left of the stairs? From her fleeting glance at the emergency fire plan posted on the landing for every floor, the numbering should have been the same for the third floor as it was on the first and second. Unless they had changed the numbering recently and not updated the fire plan, but why do that? There was no point to that course of action._

_"What are you doing?" She jolted to see Sasuke standing a little ways away, glaring at her. She must look like a moron just standing by the stairs. Was she overthinking this? What did she know, anyway? Sasuke and Naruto were the useful ones. She just got in the way…But she was sure everyone was technically standing in front of 305 right now, not 301. _

_"It's just…" She looked back at the sign reading 301, her brow furrowed in confusion as she looked down at the right of the hall. Sasuke followed her gaze the whole time, pausing briefly while looking to the right, before turning abruptly and calmly walking into he middle of the crowd, where the officers were now verbally harassing a young woman with her hair up in two buns who'd come to the defense of the green spandex clad boy._

_"Nice speech. Now you can drop the act. If we head to the real 301, you won't stop us, right?"_

_"Real 301? what's he talking about?" She caught several people murmuring, as she came to join Sasuke and Naruto at the front of the crowd. _

_"So you noticed the trick, huh?" One of the officers smirked._

_"Go on Sakura." Sasuke said, his eyes never leaving the guard._

_"Huh?" He had caught her off guard._

_"You noticed it way before us. You have the sharpest eyes and analytical skill on our team."_

_Warmth spread through her clammy form. He acknowledged her! She did bring something to the team! She wasn't useless—she'd noticed the mistake before he had! And _Sasuke_ acknowledged _her_! She couldn't help the smile making its way onto her face._

_"Well sure. I noticed it the minute we got up here. This is 305. 301 is the first classroom on the right."_

_…Thank you, Sasuke-kun. _

Sakura felt her breathing calm, her vision no longer warped with water. An internal warmth had spread through her, combatting her clamminess. A dry chuckle found its way through her lips.

"The irony in him telling me that I have the sharpest eyes…clearly he wasn't accounting for his family gifts. But I've definitely got the best analytical skill—" Her musing were cut short by the weight of realization. She shot up straight in her excitement, nearly giving herself head rush. "And I've got everything I need to create a full psychological profile which will help us predict his next moves!" She ran for the stairs before stopping short again. Part of her didn't want to profile this guy. He was so dark and twisted and just reading his essays had shaken her to her core and stripped her of her confidence. She didn't want to go deeper into his head and try to understand him. What if she lost herself the way she started to earlier?

She'd think of Sasuke, that would anchor her the way it just did. But what if memories weren't enough? What if she wasn't able to dredge them up any more? What if she needed something more substantial? Something like what happened earlier at the gym. Just thinking about earlier sent her pulse skyrocketing. All his recent attempts at support and his unfiltered praise had huge impacts on her. They'd been comforting, and securing. The recognition pouring out of him in spades made her feel more confident, the only thing to top his praise being her own laundry list of accomplishments. But sometimes she didn't have that list on tap, and in those moments Sasuke was there reaffirming it for her.

He was also confusing her mentally and emotionally. But she was a mature adult. And so was he—hopefully. So they should be able to work through that if they talked it out. If she could put her emotional scars aside and let him in again…that was the hard part. She certainly couldn't all at once—just forget he ever left her and go back to the way things were. But she could start—they could start. She was a doctor. She knew healing took time. But she had her space. He had his, wanted or not. It was time to start trying to heal. Cause however frustrating it was, she needed him to keep her grounded. And she was beginning to suspect based on his behavior, and the input of her two best friends, that he might need her too. Her heart pounded as she dialed his number. It had barely rung before he answered.

"We need to talk."

* * *

**Authors note: I'm so sorry for the wait! Action scenes are hard to write and as are the medical/scientific aspects. I do a fair amount of research into the science I use but it's all theoretical fiction and none of it should be taken seriously. **

**As much as a I think Sakura is strong and capable and self actualized, I also know from experience that when you feel overwhelmed or outmatched, it can be very hard to maintain your own confidence no matter how skilled you are. While I can normally talk myself out of it, there are times when what I'm facing seems too much and I can't. In those moments, hearing my skill verified by others, usually specific people, is the only thing that bolsters me out of that head space. I think Sakura is the same way-despite how capable and level headed she grew to be, I think there are moments where she needs to hear her skills reaffirmed by Sasuke and Tsunade in particular, since that's who she's placed as her definitions of strength and skill. **

**Anyways, thank you so much for reading! Huge thank you to everyone who's favorited, followed, and especially reviewed this story! Please keep them coming-they mean a lot to me :) **


	11. Chapter 11

Sasuke had returned to the station after dropping Sakura off, too restless to go home. The level of physical contact he had with her…had he pushed her too hard? Jumped the gun? It hadn't been his intention. He hadn't suggested sparring as a ploy to get her under him. He hadn't even fully grasped that he now thought of Sakura…that way. At the time, it just seemed like she really needed to blow off steam, the same way he and Naruto needed to earlier. He'd also been curious. He didn't disbelieve Naruto when he said Sakura could handle herself in a fight, having been trained by Tsunade. She was a lot tougher mentally and emotionally than when he'd known her and hearing that she was trained by their legendary prime minister seemed to fit. But he still wanted to see first hand, to understand her skill level so it wouldn't be a distracting concern to him if something should happen on the field. He understood that given his growing concern, awareness, and need for her, he might react recklessly in a fight if he didn't suss out the way Sakura fought, which would put them both at greater risk.

Needless to say, his concerns were abetted. He wouldn't have to worry about her even a little. Even if her opponent was far stronger physically, they'd never be able to touch her. He'd barely been able to touch her, never actually landed a single clean hit during their whole spar. It was such a far cry from the girl who used to get beat up badly or taken hostage in fights.

It also hadn't escaped his notice how beautiful her technique was. She'd mixed her gymnasts flexibility, grace, and reaction time with her unbelievably fast analytical skill. No matter how many times or how quickly he'd switched styles and tactics, her clear green eyes never left him, calculating his shifts and reacting with barely any delay. Her movements had been so hypnotic, the look in her eyes so breathtaking, that throughout the spar, he'd found himself just wanting to stop, hold her in place, and look at her. It had been that look when she had him pinned that had elicited such a surge or warmth through him, that he couldn't resist openly praising her skill. But then the weird thing happened…

For some reason, she relented, and his body had acted on battle instinct, flipping their positions and pinning her completely so he had the upper hand. And the look in her eyes shifted slightly. On top of the alert awareness, and calm calculation, her gaze also held determination, mild annoyance, shock, and openness. For the first time since that night he left, there was no guard up in the way she was looking at him, nor was there crumbling vulnerability. There was just an openness. He never wanted her to stop looking at him like that. It was unraveling him at the seams—heat like he'd never experienced before shot through his whole body. It wasn't the fire that burned through him with rage, nor the sunshine like warmth Sakura usually sparked in him. This was different—it was a heat that could be relieved, born of tension, and his body knew before he did exactly what it wanted to do to relieve it. His hand had slipped from her wrist to the space between it and her head, allowing him to feel the ends of her soft hair.

And then she'd started talking. About his eyes, his strange genetic ability. It wasn't common knowledge. There wasn't vast amounts of medical research on it. It wasn't taught about in schools. That meant she'd done that research herself. She'd studied what few case studies and materials existed about his families eyes. There weren't many—she must have had to work very hard to figure out anything about them…and this was all after he'd left. After he'd hurt her so deeply. Why had she bothered? And when he asked her, he thought he saw it. For the first time in three years and ten months, in that openness, he thought he saw the words she'd said to him that night, that feeling she had for him, that she still…he wasn't sure though, maybe he wasn't reading it right?

He hadn't had time to try and parse it out because then, she'd reached up and tapped him in the middle of his forehead. Everything in him had melted, memories surging through him of the gesture his family always used, his mother's kind smile, his father's proud eyes, Itachi—back when Sasuke loved him and wanted nothing more than to be like him. And then Sakura. Every time he saw her smile, heard her laugh, anytime they'd made any sort of physical contact ever, anytime she called his name…

The heat he'd been feeling remained but now it was weirdly battling and mixing with the warmth he usually associated with Sakura. Again his body seemed to know before he did that no matter which feeling won out, or whatever new temperature they mixed to create, he needed to be closer to her, to feel her against him.

When her phone went off, it had the same effect as an alarm clock waking him from a very vivid dream. He felt rattled and off balance. Whatever that feeling had been, he'd been very close to acting on it, and that was a huge problem if he didn't talk to her about everything first. He might have ended up hurting her even more, and nothing about it was fair to her.

He'd been even more unsettled to discover that the entire car ride to the hospital (she'd insisted on going there instead of home), that feeling hadn't really faded. The warm heat continued to linger, quietly, surging a little every time he looked at her, not overwhelming as it had been in the gym, but he'd expected it to have faded entirely when the moment broke—and it hadn't.

Even now, sitting at his desk staring at pictures of the crime scenes, hours after, nowhere near Sakura, the warm heat still lingered. Sasuke sighed, he'd wanted to take time to prove he was trust worthy, to allow her to warm up to him slowly before he admitted to her how his feelings for her had shifted. But he'd accelerated his timeline. After what just happened, he'd have to talk to her about it soon. Tomorrow, probably.

He turned his attention back to the crime scene photos. He didn't have the mental presents to dig more into the Akatsuki lead right now. And while he more or less had it confirmed that this was the work of Orochimaru and an accomplice, he didn't have enough evidence to say so just yet. That, and he didn't really want to explain Suigetsu to Naruto and Sakura. He didn't want them to know just how far he'd been willing to go to kill his brother.

The results of the experiments done on Suigetsu were that he had developed sentient control over his biological chemistry. He could activate his adrenalin at will, consciously increase his blood flow to his muscles, giving him extreme bursts of strength or energy. His lung capacity had been increased as well, and seemed to be able to stay under water for hours without an oxygen tank. These had seemed like useful enhancements to Sasuke. He'd thought about finding the scientist responsible and getting some enhancements himself. Thank god he never followed through, seeing what the failed experiments were. But the thought that he'd actually considered it sickened him. Just imagining the berating he'd have to deal with from Naruto gave him a headache. And he didn't want to see the look on her face if Sakura ever found out.

"You're here late." He looked up at the bored voice to see Shikamaru leaning against Naruto's desk.

"And you're not?" Shikamaru held a similar rank to Hinata as far as Sasuke's coworkers went. He'd rather talk to him than the vast majority. At least he was intelligent and fairly quiet—too lazy to talk to loud. But he was annoyingly reminded of how when Sakura had listed off her relationships with her predominantly male friends, Shikamaru had been one of the ones she'd mentioned. Shikamaru just shrugged.

"Temari's pissed at me."

"She lives in Suna." Sasuke returned blankly, not seeing how one related to the other.

"She's here as a delegate. We're thinking of joining our promotional exams. Better foreign relations or some shit like that."

"Wasn't she just here?" Sasuke asked, thinking back on the CCTV footage

"She was here on a short personal break. Now she's here for work. I think Gaara did it on purpose."

"Ah." He wasn't really sure what else to say. Shikamaru must have needed to talk though cause he continued on without prompting.

"He's never really cared much for the whole monarchy thing, and he really cares about his siblings. I think he just wants her to be happy, but she gets a lot of shit from the public for dating me and using personal days to see me." Sasuke could hear the undercurrent of guilt in his tone. It was weird, these kinds of conversations were Naruto's strong suit, not his. He felt the need to steer it in a different direction.

"Gaara's ok with it though? I would have pegged him and Kankuro for the protective brother type."

Shikamaru gave a dry laugh. "They know better than to get in that troublesome woman's way. Besides, Kankuro can't say too much, since he's pretty much in love with Sakura…I think Gaara might like her too actually."

It took everything in Sasuke to not react too obviously. All the same, his fist clenched so tightly around the pen he was holding he nearly snapped it in half.

"Since when?"

"While you were gone, Kankuro had been poisoned. No one in Suna knew what it was or how to help him. Tsunade sent Sakura there to try, and she pulled off some really difficult extraction to buy him some time and then figured out the cure no one else could. Saved his life, pretty sure that's what did it for him. Gaara cares a lot about his siblings and her saving Kankuro was a part of it but Temari said it was also about something that happened when he had his psychotic break."

"I was there for that. Those two never talked." His tone came out sharper than he'd meant it too.

"Yeah it wasn't talking. Remember how you found him first and he beat the shit out of you. You lost consciousness for a couple of minutes."

"I remember." The aftermath of that fight had been one of the things that made him feel like he needed to leave—like he was getting weaker instead of stronger.

"Well, he'd been about to kill you when Naruto and Sakura got there. She stepped in front of you to protect you. He told her to move or he'd kill her, but she just stared him down. He shot her, but the look in her eyes had thrown him off so he missed her vitals. She was still down for the count, though."

He remembered waking up and seeing her unconscious and bleeding, being so terrified that she was dead. Naruto had started pummeling Gaara, which gave Sasuke time to move her to a safer location and call an ambulance before running in to help with the fight again. Naruto had done most of the work by that point, but he held Gaara down while Sasuke cuffed him. No one had told him how Sakura got shot…He just figured it'd happened cause she hadn't moved fast enough.

"Temari says that he's never forgotten the look she gave him as he shot her. He mentions it a lot apparently. Don't see what's so special about a look though."

Sasuke could. The effects of the look Sakura gave him had yet to die down. He wondered what Gaara had seen in her eyes. Shikamaru was scrutinizing him, eyes narrowed. He decided it was time to change the conversation again before he admitted something he shouldn't.

"So why's she pissed?"

"If I knew, you think I'd be here?"

"Did you say something?"

"No. Everything was fine. We were leaving a meeting. Ino and Sai came up to us and after they left she got all pissy."

"Ino and Sai?"

"Yeah."

"What did you talk about?"

"We were just catching up. Then Ino made some joke and Sai said something about wanting to marry her and she got all flustered and they left."

Sasuke was trying to figure out how Shikamaru's intelligence worked. He had an IQ over 200, was the most tactical thinker ever to come through the KPD, headed several of the external affairs cases, and even served as an advisor to the prime minister on occasion, but he seemed well and truly unable to figure his own girlfriend out. Not that Sasuke could really criticize given how out of his depth he was with Sakura, but it seemed pretty obvious to him what was bothering Temari.

"When'd Ino and Sai meet?"

"Two years ago I think."

"When'd they start dating?"

"Half way through last year."

"When'd you and Temari meet?"

"Four and a half years ago."

"When'd you start dating?"

"Three years and two months ago." There was a long pause as the two stared at each other blankly.

"Oh Seriously? What a drag! Sai had to say he wanted to marry her in front of—Fuck. That troublesome woman! She really read into that?"

Sasuke just shrugged turning back to the crime scene photos. He still hadn't shaken the feeling that the second one was some sort of threat. The location was too personal to his team. He heard Shikamaru mutter another "troublesome" under his breath. There had to have been something he missed…

"Have you thought about the gender differences yet?"

"What do you mean? The first one escaped. She must have been the next incorrect experiment they needed to dump."

"Clearly they've got a bunch of experiments running, and they've been doing it for a while. There had to have been more failed cases. These are the first bodies ever found. They must have had a way of disposal that's worked so far. The first was an accident. The second should have never happened—"

"—unless it was intentional." Sasuke finished grimly. Shikamaru just confirmed his paranoia. But what did that have to do with gender?

"Why is the gender difference important?"

"They could have dumped anyone. Why her? Why there?"

Sasuke looked back down at the picture of Tatsuyu's body. A girl in their age range. Short slender build. Orange/red hair…

Shit! It was meant for Sakura. Shit! A girl with a short slender build and unusual hair coloring—pink not red, but technically pink was a shade of red. Posed in her old teams training ground. He felt his blood run cold, but he couldn't panic. It wouldn't be productive or useful and as of right now nothing had happened yet. It could have been a threat, a warning, or a message. No one had followed up on it yet, and so long as they all proceeded carefully, nothing bad would happen.

"These cases haven't been made public knowledge or hit the media," Shikamaru said grimly. "No one should know that any of you are on this case, least of all her since she hasn't been a public member of the force for three years."

"Which either means someone who knows her works with them, sold them information knowingly or unknowingly. Or she's got a stalker." Sasuke finished feeling sick. His phone buzzed, a quick glance telling him it was Sakura. He picked up immediately, panic surging. What if she was hurt or in trouble? What if someone was after her? Before he even got the chance to ask if she was ok, she spoke.

"We need to talk."

That stopped Sasuke short. Did she figure out that someone was after her? That couldn't be it—her tone would have been laced with at least a touch of fear or anger, and there was none in her voice. The warm heat that he'd almost forgotten in his icy panic (though it still hadn't faded from his system) gave another surge as he thought back on their time at the gym. Oh. That's what this was about. He'd figured he'd be the one to say those words. That he'd have to force a conversation she wasn't ready for. She kept doing things that shocked him. How she could be so emotionally strong and mature was beyond him. He was so emotionally fragile that thinking back on it, it wasn't that surprising that he'd defected and nearly lost himself in a brutal quest for revenge.

"Be there soon." He knew she was still at the hospital. He packed up quickly and headed for the door. Shikamaru fell in step next to him.

"You gonna tell her?"

"Yeah…Thanks."

"That case is troublesome. Let me know if there's anything I can do…Talking to Temari's gonna be a drag."

* * *

Sakura had been waiting for him outside. She seemed surprised that he'd arrived so quickly. Maybe she thought he'd gone home after dropping her off. It would have been a further drive. The second he saw her he felt another surge of the warm heat. It only intensified when she slid into his passenger seat. This would be a very difficult conversation if he kept getting distracted by it. The silence around them was charged as they pulled out of the parking lot. He wasn't sure if he should say something or wait for her. He steeled himself and figured he owed it to her to be the one to begin.

"Sakura—"

"Sasuke-kun—"

There was a pause, not sure how to proceed now that they both tried at the same time. She recovered faster than he did.

"I was the one who called, so I should go first. Just hear me out before you say anything, ok?"

"Ok." Something like fear shot through him. What if she shot him down before he could even try? A part of him felt nauseated, knowing that what he was worried about was what he'd done to her every single time she'd tried—regardless of whether her interest was in the shallow stages or deeper.

Sakura was silent for a minute, staring straight out at the road.

"One of the hardest things after you left, was that no one knew there was something between us. I know there was—we never talked about it, never kissed or anything, maybe you weren't even fully aware of it. But what we were was something more than just platonic. And no one knew about it. After you left, no one understood why I was so upset, and tried to rush me to move on. They didn't get that you essentially broke up with me—in a really brutal way. That's the problem with friends-who-are-more-than-friends breakups. No one thinks you need time to grieve." She stopped for a second, took a deep breath and turned to him. "I can't go through that again. I can't deal with people telling me I'm overreacting and being crazy because you left again."

Sasuke felt something in him sink. It was fair. He deserved it, and he couldn't blame her…what would it have been like, if after his family's deaths, everyone called him crazy for shutting down? There hadn't been much support for him after it happened, but no one wrote him off as crazy and overreacting for his grief and betrayal. In fact, he got a lot of passes for his rude attitude.

Still, he'd been hoping desperately for something he knew he didn't deserve from her, and he felt the disappointment, sadness, and guilt resonate through his bones. He opened his mouth to say something—anything, he wasn't sure what. But Sakura surprised him. Again.

"So if we keep going with this, you have to be willing to admit that I'm someone who matters to you. That I'm more than just a teammate or friend. I know you're a private person, and I respect that. I also get that if you do acknowledge this, and something were to happen to me, it'd make it that much harder for you to handle after everything else you've lost. But I'm strong, as are you, and between the two of us, the likelihood of someone hurting me physically is pretty low. And I need others to understand that there's something here, so that when you leave again, they allow me the time to grieve."

Sasuke was struck dumb. That really had not been what he had expected…she was right, that if he truly followed through on this, if he truly were to dive into the warm heat, losing her would shatter him beyond repair. The thought terrified him. The hard knot in his stomach since realizing Sakura might be in danger would only grow bigger and bigger. But she was also right that between his protective nature, and her own level headedness and skill he'd just verified for himself today, the likelihood of anyone successfully killing or injuring Sakura was very slim. And fear aside, a part of him was already willing to take that leap with her if it meant she'd smile at him more, and look at him with that captivating openness. If he could touch her more, hold her, be close to her all the time, it felt like it was worth the risk. But there was something in her statements that he found deeply troubling.

"When I leave again?"

"It's not possible for me to trust that you won't. Maybe if he wasn't still out there. But he is. And I know what that means to you. You may not want to leave again, you may not leave with the intention of never coming back again, but I can't bring myself to trust that you won't go. If I did, and you left, I don't think I'd ever recover."

"If you're so sure I'll go, then why take the chance?" He wasn't accusing, or angry. Everything she said felt like a mini knife to the chest because it was true, fair, and valid. Her strength was beyond him for even entertaining the notion of entering into this with a fear like that.

"Because Sasuke-kun, it's so frustrating but everything I said that night is still true. I still—"

It was the first time that she hesitated the entire car ride. Sasuke watched as she seemed to keep trying to finish the thought but was unable. She didn't need to though. He knew. He thought he'd seen it earlier and this entire conversation proved he'd been right. The warm heat was surging through him, fast as his accelerated pulse. And when she turned to look at him, despite how her words had failed her, with that same openness he'd seen in her mirror clear eyes earlier, his body erupted in tingles. She'd said her piece. It was his turn now.

"You're…so annoying."

Why? Why was that his default when he couldn't find the words he really meant and needed. He could tell her guard was slowly raising, he couldn't blame her after that shining piece of eloquence. He had to try again. And actually say something useful this time.

"I don't understand…how you know so well what you're feeling…I…I never know. It's always so muddy and confusing."

Sakura watched him unblinkingly, still on her guard preparing for the worst. She didn't say anything, just waiting for him to continue.

"I think…I might…I think I feel the same as you but…I'm not sure what that's supposed to feel like in this context. The last time I…you're right that I'm scared of losing you…of what that would do to me." How come everything was so hard to say? She'd made this look easy. She was better at talking, always, and he was always silent by nature but this was just stupid.

"I don't know what it means to be with someone…but with you…I want to try. I feel like I'm gonna screw everything up…you deserve way better than me and it's not fair to you but…if you can be patient with me, tell me what it is I'm supposed to do…Cause I'm not sure…but I want to do that for you." Good lord that was hard. And there was still more he had to say to her.

"I don't like other people in my business, but I won't hide things between us or distance myself when others are around anymore. It's not in my nature to be very public about things though—so I hope that's not what you meant."

"It's not." She whispered. He looked at her for the first time since he started talking, her eyes were wide, shocked, she was blushing faintly. To him it seemed like she was glowing.

"There's nothing I can say that will make you trust me and believe that I won't leave again…that's fine. I brought that on myself. But…I promise if it crosses my mind…if I start to think I might, I'll talk to you about it first. I won't just disappear one day or…leave you knocked out in your car…I'm sorry…I don't think I'll leave again. But I won't promise you something you can't trust."

The silence was deafening for ten whole seconds and then Sakura burst our laughing. It was a sound full of warmth and relief, Sasuke felt the warm heat thunder through him.

"That was like talking through a mine field for you, huh?" She asked amusement dancing through her tone.

Sasuke felt himself relaxing for the first time the whole car ride. A tingly ease replaced the earlier tension.

"So, fragile and delicate. What's the difference?"

"Delicate is something beautiful and precious you want to protect. Fragile is something you keep safe just so it doesn't break."

"I'm positive that's not the dictionary definition."

"So? Who gave a book the right to decide what words mean."

"The authors. I happen to like your definition better though."

"Thought you might."

"And you didn't tell me this sooner because?"

"You're working very hard to get me to say I was in denial."

"Not that hard since you just admitted it."

"Right. And you researched my eyes because?"

"Oh come on—there was no big secret in that."

"Say that after someone avoids you for four months and glares at you every chance they get."

"Eh, It was warranted."

"Didn't say it wasn't."

This. This was their rhythm, the one they'd maintained despite everything. But this was fuller, it wasn't that strange empty pacing they'd shared for the past couple days. This was what it used to be. Better even.

When he pulled up to her shitty apartment, it was 3:15am. It had been a very long day but Sasuke felt no traces of exhaustion. He didn't want her to leave. He eyed the building with distaste. He heard her seatbelt unbuckle, but he really didn't want to see her leave, so he kept his eyes on the building.

"Sasuke-kun."

He turned to her, staring into her clear green irises for one second before she leaned forward and her lips were on his. Again his body reacted before he did, his hands cupping her face, fingers blanketed by her silky hair. The warm heat exploded through him, making him hungry for more and never wanting this to end. The kiss was deep, long, and searing. Sasuke didn't do anything by halves. He had no clue how to.

It was Sakura who pulled away first. Breathless and beet red. Sasuke immediately missed the contact but he couldn't help thinking that she looked really pretty like this. She was looking at him with that openness again making his blood run through him like pure electricity.

"I need you to tell me I can do this. This case I mean."

"What?"

"I read Orochimaru's file earlier and I—He's something else Sasuke-kun and I don't know if—"

"He's got nothing on you." He said fiercely, looking into her doubt filled eyes.

"But what he's done…"

"Sakura. You correctly diagnosed a migraine from seeing me wince once after three years and ten months of no contact. You figured out what happens to eyes like mine from practically no available data. Whatever abominations he creates are nothing to compared to what you can do."

She stared at him unblinkingly for a couple of seconds and then he saw the light in her eyes shift from doubt to determination.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun. I'm gonna create a full psych profile based on this and have Ino check it. Then I'll brief everyone."

"It's definitely him then." He already knew it was.

"There's no concrete evidence but ideologically it's a dead ringer. A profile will help us figure out his next steps."

"Sakura. I think the second body dump was for you. A message, or threat."

Sakura stared at him. He expected her to show some sign of fear, but he didn't detect any.

"The body—"

She held a finger to his lips, silencing him. He watched as her eyes calculated, working this piece of information into her puzzle. Then she looked up, catching him in her calm and grounded gaze.

"My working on this case hasn't been made public yet, which if you're right, means that there's a leak or someone's been watching me. I can't think of anyone around me seeming suspicious. But I'll be careful. Don't tell me what makes you say this yet because it might influence my profile. Share it at the briefing."

Sasuke nodded. He eye'd her apartment building with distaste again. "You sure you'll be ok here alone?"

"I'll keep my firearm on or near me at all times, and I have a knife in my nightstand. I have several security systems installed. No ones made a move against me yet. If it's a warning, then there's time. It hasn't even been 24 hours yet. They would have factored in time for me to figure out the warning, otherwise the threat wouldn't land. So I should still have time. Pick me up in four hours. I should be fine no matter what at the station and so long as I'm not commuting, the window of opportunity for someone to nab me is narrow." Her logic was hard to argue with and the smile she sent him calmed him instantly.

"Four hours? When exactly were you planning to sleep?"

"You really think I'd be able to get to sleep after everything that's happened today?"

Nope. He was certainly on a high, it must have been even bigger for her—she'd wanted this longer.

"Hn."

She smiled again, "Good night, Sasuke-kun."

He had to fight the urge to grab onto her to stop her from leaving. The second his car door shut he felt her absence. Like a hole that shouldn't have been there. He watched her disappear into the rundown building and waited until he saw the light from her window turn on before he put the car in drive. His phone pinged, and he saw Sakura had texted him.

Text me when you get home.

He smiled softly. How long had it been since she asked him to do that?

* * *

Four hours later, Sasuke watched Sakura step out of her building and make her way towards his car. Sasuke had learned long ago that the amount of effort Sakura put into her appearance was directly proportional to how exhausted she was. He'd noticed it the first time right after the Underground case when she'd cut her hair short to free herself from Kin. After it happened, despite the drop in the initial shallowness Sasuke had perceived in her, she started putting more effort into her appearance, though only on days where she was tired or under extreme stress. It was only on those days she'd bother with makeup or particularly appealing outfits. Today, she looked amazing, which meant she was exhausted.

Her silky pink hair looked extra glossy, her clear green eyes brought out all the more by the dusting of gold eye shadow and framed by a very thin strip of black making her long dark eyelashes appear even darker. Her outfit choice was simple business casual, but it also managed to be form fitting, practical, and elegant all at once. She looked a notch above capable and skilled. The warm heat, which he was beginning to realize might never go away, surged with almost as much force as it had the previous night. The door opened and she slid into the passenger seat.

"You really are dead on your feet."

"Shit, I thought I hid it really well." She muttered aggressively, checking her reflection in the sun visor's tiny mirror.

"You did."

"Then how'd you know?"

"You only used to wear makeup after all nighters, or when you didn't sleep well."

"Didn't realized you noticed."

"Was I supposed to comment?"

"Probably better you didn't." She laughed.

"I wasn't sure if you still did. You looked exhausted a couple days ago."

"Yeah, I never felt the need to while working at the hospital."

"Why?"

"Never felt like things were out of my control there."

"That's why you do it?"

Sakura gave a casual shrug. "I was barely helpful on cases, the least I could do was not look pathetic."

He'd known about her lack of confidence and inferiority back then—he'd been a contributing factor for a while. But he hadn't realized how deep it had ran. While she hadn't been the most helpful on cases, she'd been useful in ways she didn't even see, which was fair since he and Naruto hadn't seen it either until Kakashi made them aware. Sakura had been the glue, the scaffolding that helped structure and hold their close knit dynamic in place.

"You don't really think you're not contributing on this case?"

"Nope. I'm the most useful member on the team right now." A playful light danced in her clear eyes, an amused smile curled on her lips. "Old habits die hard I guess…and you picking me up may have been a contributing factor."

Sasuke shook his head. Gentle fire spread from his chest through his body. It wasn't that the effort wasn't appreciated but she really didn't have to work that hard. The only girl he'd ever noticed in any sort of capacity was Sakura. He was just a moron for having taken so long to realize that.

He handed her a cup of coffee and a bag with two rice balls, an anko bread roll, and a bottle of caffeinated tea.

"You certainly came prepared."

"Figured you'd need as much caffeine as you could get."

"Good guess."

Sakura sipped her coffee, her fingers drumming absently against a folder on her lap.

"That the profile."

Her eyes clouded a little as she looked away. "Yeah. I still have to check it over with Ino to see if there's anything I misread though."

Sasuke couldn't resist the urge to reach out to her. His hand bridged the gap between them, his fingers intertwining with hers. She looked up at him, her meadow green eyes softening, a soft smile blooming on lips.

"Don't worry, Sasuke-kun. I'll be fine so long as you keep your promise."

He took one look at her and knew bone deep that he'd rather go to the deepest layer of hell than break that promise.

"I will."

* * *

Sakura went to track down Ino the second they arrived at the station, and Sasuke found himself following her. It wasn't just because of their…attachment now. He needed to ask Shikamaru to sit in on todays briefing and help explain their hypothesis for Sakura being in danger. Coming from him alone it would be too easy to write off as paranoia and Shikamaru was rarely wrong about these kinds of things.

Ino and Shikamaru were on the same squad. They were a tactical devision, usually called in for a wide variety of very specific cases. Any hostage situations, jumpers, or cases in need of deescalation usually fell on them. They also handled several white collar and organized crime cases, Shikamaru coming up with the plans, Ino and their other teammate, Chouji, doing undercover work. All three were called in to consult or help out on other cases as need. Which was exactly what Sakura and Sasuke were about to ask them to do. They wove their way around the maze of desks until they reached the cluster belonging to Tactical.

"Ino!" Sakura called, her blond haired friend's eyes snapping to her.

Sasuke didn't miss the steely glare she sent his way initially before her gaze landed back on Sakura.

"Mornin' Forehead. You look hot." She observed. Sasuke wondered if she knew about Sakura's habit of hiding her exhaustion or stress behind increased effort on her appearance. Sakura had mentioned that Sasuke could tell when she was lying even more than Ino could. Was this an example of that?

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you had a hot date." Ino continued casually.

"If you didn't—"

"She does." Two sets of shocked eyes snapped to him. This was uncomfortable and part of him regretted speaking. But another part knew he'd make the same choice again. He promised her he wouldn't hide what was between them or pull away from her in public. He had no intention on going back on that promise the second it was put to the test. He glanced down at her, his stomach bubbling with anxiety—this was what she meant, right? Had he made a mistake?

He took in her flushed cheeks, small smile, and the open wonder, surprise, and warmth in her mint eyes, and decided he most definitely hadn't made a mistake and that he would make the same choice again and again if he got that small warm smile in return.

It took conscious effort to look elsewhere but he finally managed to tear his gaze away and back to Ino, who's eyes were jumping between the two like she was following a ping pong match.

"Huh, guess we've got a lot to talk about Forehead."

"That we do, Pig." Sakura replied casually, strolling over and handing her the file. "I need to go over this with you, see if I missed anything or if any of my conclusions are wrong."

Ino cast one last glance at Sasuke before dropping her eyes to the file in her hands. She scanned a page, her eyebrows drawing together. Ino abruptly stood up, closing the folder with a snap.

"Alright, come on. I'm gonna need coffee and a fuck ton of pudding if I'm looking at someone this fucked up this early in the morning." She threw her an arm over Sakura's shoulder, marching her towards the door.

Sasuke glanced over at Shikamaru, who had his head in his arms, eyes closed.

"So did you chicken out, or did you actually talk to her?"

Shikamaru's opened a bored eye and glanced up at Sasuke.

"So you and Sakura, huh? Took you long enough."

"You engaged yet?" Sasuke shot back annoyed. If there was anyone who lost the right to lecture him on how slow he was with his relationship, it was Shikamaru. Even the Dead last held a higher ground on that front in Sasuke's mind.

"I did actually talk to her. Didn't think the troublesome woman even wanted to get married. Turns out she's been thinking about it for a while. I told her marriage is a drag but I'd do it if it really mattered to her that much. Seemed to make her happy enough."

"You're a real Tokubei." Sasuke drawled.

"Did you tell her about the threat?" Shikamaru had sat up now, eyes serious and focused.

"Yeah…I started to but she didn't want to hear the evidence incase it skewed her profile. It's why I'm over here."

"You want me there for today's briefing."

"Coming from me alone it might sound too paranoid."

"Especially now that you two are involved."

"Even if we weren't."

"Yeah, I get it. You're prone to paranoia and your credibility's a bit lacking thanks to your three year break with reason."

Sasuke sent a withering glare at the lazy genius, who simply shrugged in response.

"I already told you this case is troublesome, so I'll help out however I can. Besides, she's my friend too."

He was surprised by two things—the mild tick of annoyance he felt at how Shikamaru and Sakura were apparently close shogi buddies, but also by how mild that tick really was. Sasuke was by nature territorial and incredibly protective of those close to him. On top of that Sakura was someone he had a strong bond and rapidly skyrocketing attraction to. The idea of other males being close to her did annoy him. However, Sasuke trusted her. Unconditionally and indefinitely. He always had since the Zaku incident. Last night, she'd told him she still felt the same for him as she had the night he left—that she always had. Just because they were now…dating—a concept he still couldn't wrap his head around—didn't give him the right to control her. Nor would he want to. He trusted that if she said a male and her were friends, then that was all there was to it. Didn't mean he trusted the male. Far from it actually, but the laws of Konoha were innocent until proven guilty and he'd do his best to apply it to these situations as well. Of course, in this case Shikamaru was well clear of suspicion or ulterior motives. He already had a girlfriend—one that came with a strong personality and a complicated situation, and if someone as lazy as Shikamaru was actually willing to work through the anxiety and trouble of Temari's political status, there's no way he'd cheat on her. Besides, that'd be too much effort for him.

* * *

The briefing room felt more full with the inclusion of Ino and Shikamaru. The two female best friends seemed to have decided to tag team their profile presentation.

"It's a bit strange working a profile backwards like this, normally the point would be to help identify an unsub, not tie a known entity to a crime, but it's worth a shot I guess…Really, when you know who your looking at, it's more of a diagnosis than a profile…" Ino trailed off, still unsure if this was the right way to go about this. Sakura took over with the subject history.

"Kageyurei Orochimaru. Born to Kageyurei Hideyo and Kageyurei Kenji. His mother died in child birth, and his father, a brilliant scientist, committed suicide out of grief four years later. According to the police reports, Orochimaru witnessed it. It's likely that his father blamed him for the death of his wife and rejected him over the years leading up to his suicide. He grew up in the custody of the state, as Konoha's foster system was still in development. From a young age he demonstrated superior intelligence, and lauded as nothing short of a genius. He entered the Konoha medical program at 16, focusing in depth on researching genetic engineering, evolutionary development, biomechanics, anatomy, cellular biology and neurobiology. He was kicked out of the program due to Laboratory and Experimental Misconduct, and left Konoha, with no record of anyone seeing or hearing from him since."

"Around the age of five there were alleged reports from other children that he began displaying two of three traits of the Macdonald triad, though adults could never confirm them." Ino took over.

"What's the Macdonald triad?" Naruto cut in.

"The three signs believed to indicate whether a child will grow up to be a serial killer: bed wetting, cruelty to animals, and small acts of arson." Ino answered, frustrated by the interruption. "Children started reporting they'd come across dead or brutally injured animals around the orphanage. They began experiencing several small fires which would break out in the kitchen or outside on particularly hot days. All of it was carefully done though. Orochimaru was never caught or reported for the events. Other kids were scared of him and would accuse him, but there was no evidence, and adults found him too intelligent and charming to consider a suspect. He excelled at his studies, charming every authority figure he met, but he had no friends, turning away from every offer that was extended throughout the years. "

"Look at his essays—he doesn't view humans as individuals with their own complex identities and lives. His use of the word 'mate' instead of lover or even companion—he never once formed any sort of bond to another human. He lists 'soldier' first when talking about genetic engineering—he's power hungry with violent inclinations. His first thought is offensive: to build weapons, armies. He next goes to sex workers, indicating sex is a priority for him, though largely as a power trip. Sex workers are at the mercy of the client paying them. Since it's about power first and foremost, he's likely a dom and very likely into the BDSM community."

"Everything is about power and control for him," Sakura picked up, "his ideology on the whole is about not being a slave to genetics. By controlling the genetics, you control the person."

It was more disturbing than Sasuke had initially thought. Was it something in Itachi's genetics that made him snap and murder their whole family? Sasuke shared his DNA…would he end up killing everyone he cared about as well? The knot in his stomach, the fear of losing Sakura, grew tighter and tighter. "Is that actually possible?" His voice sounded rather strained, even to his own ears.

Sakura and Ino exchanged a glance.

"The science of personality, identity, and brain behavior is still in its early stages…" Ino began, "some of it is dictated by genes, but it's still not clear just how big of a role they play. That's the question of nature vs. nurture. But it's misguided to discount nurture. The brain forms neural pathways based on the information it receives from its environment. It's those neural pathways that play the biggest role in shaping personality."

"Even genetic identical's, when raised in different environments will develop different strengths and weaknesses," Sakura continued, her eyes softening as she looked at him—like she somehow knew the exact direction his mind had taken. "Identical twins, raised in the same environment often display different personalities. There's still a lot of research to be done, but identity can't be written up to just genetics."

"If he's such a genius, how's he overlooking this fact?" Shikamaru spoke for the first time in the meeting.

"At the time, he may have discounted it because he himself didn't see any results that would suggest its validity. Using himself as a case study, he had no mother, his father likely neglected and abused him prior to death, placed in a crappy orphanage that sent the kids to the worst school…nurture should have dictated he'd be unintelligent and depressed. Instead he was relatively unaffected and a genius, scholastically smart, able to get away with terrible acts, able to manipulate and charm those around him. Thriving. His nurture should have made him the opposite, so he may not have taken it to mean much at the time."

"At the time?" Shikamaru further questioned his teammate.

"He must have come to realize that genetics alone aren't enough to control a body. His experiments include several neurochemical blockers, boosters, enzymes, all aimed at bringing the brains emotional response in line with the biological changes." Sakura answered.

"Anyway, his motivations ultimately boil down to desire for power, control, and to combat boredom. He's smart. Scary smart. And he's been gone a while. It's highly unlikely these were his first experiments. He certainly wouldn't have been so careless as to let the bodies be discovered."

Sasuke and Shikamaru exchanged glances. It was the same conclusion they'd reached last night.

"Do you think he's had any…successful experiments?" Kakashi asked.

"It's hard to say. Probably not for this particular experiment…but others, maybe."

"He has." Sasuke answered. All eyes shot to him. He knew he could no longer hide it from them. It would be an obstruction of their investigation. And his biggest fear had been assuaged, he wouldn't completely lose Sakura by revealing the people he'd worked with while he was away.

"How do you know?" Kakashi questioned, eyes observing him carefully.

"In the time I was gone, I…crossed paths with some interesting people." He crossed to the smart board computer and after a couple seconds of hacking, pulled up a file. "This is Hozuki Suigetsu. A mercenary, originally from Kirigakure. I…I briefly worked with him to track my brother. He had undergone certain biological changes through experimentation, which increased his lung capacity, sped up his healing when submerged in water, and allowed him full conscious control over his biochemistry."

"What's that last part mean?" Naruto, ever the idiot, cut in boldly. Apparently it was totally lost on him why this might be an uncomfortable subject for him.

"He could activate his adrenaline at will, consciously choose how it would effect him, increase his blood flow to his muscles…stuff like that, Moron."

"Watch it Bastard—"

"It means he could choose when and how to give himself a speed or strength boost." Sakura cut in helpfully, attempting to diffuse their fight before really started in front of Ino and Shikamaru.

"Coulda just said that from the start. So what's the deal?"

"The experiments done to him were conducted by Orochimaru and an accomplice. He never got a good look at the second person. The experiments on him seemed to have been successful. So if he was a success, there had to have been other success as well."

"Why didn't you share this earlier?" Kakashi questioned, his voice low.

He wasn't sure how to answer. He'd been ashamed…that he hadn't drawn the connection sooner, that he'd known someone who went through that torture and never reported it, that he'd considered seeking it out for himself…he couldn't admit any of that, especially not in front of two people who weren't even on his team. He was saved by the person he feared looking at the most right now.

"Fascinating that he was a success. Conscious biochemical regulation—I wonder if that informed his process for his current experiments. Whatever procedure he went through must have aided in the development of the chemical he's using for the genetic mutation now—it includes an increase in the production of cortisol, I bet the two are related!"

It took all of his effort not to openly gape at her. He could tell from the lively far-away look in her eyes that her mind was currently racing to place these new puzzle pieces he'd just handed her, but he didn't miss the reassurance they held in them either. The deep gratitude he felt sent a shock of the warm heat through his system, making him relax a little, despite the tense environment and case that just kept getting more fucked up.

"So we've got a witness then, yeah?" The blond moron's loud voice cut in, filling Sasuke with even more relief. The two people he cared about the most weren't absolutely disgusted with him.

"Seems so. Hard to believe Orochimaru would just let him go though." Kakashi said, dropping his line of questioning, which Sasuke was also grateful for because ultimately, he also cared about Kakashi.

"Actually it's not." Ino answered swiftly, drawing the attention back to her. "He's sadistic and has no compunction about murder, killing or torture, but that's not the purpose of his experiments. He's a narcissist, a scientist, and very Darwinian. He believes in survival of the fittest and wants to see how 'fit' he can make humans. If one of his experiments is a success, he wouldn't kill them cause their existence strokes his ego. He has no direct purpose for them once the experiment's complete—releasing them may prove more useful than holding them. Especially if there's some way to monitor. He'd get more useful data on how they're able to exist in the world, and if they impregnate someone or get pregnant, he can see if his edits successfully pass on to a child. He gets more use out of letting them go. In a way, it continues the experiment. Besides, he's easily bored. Seeing his experiments on the loose may actually give him some much desired entertainment."

"Easily bored…Would he be the kind to play games?" Shikamaru asked, exchanging a meaningful glance with Sasuke.

"With victims of his experiments? No. They're test subjects. Nothing more, nothing less to him."

"Suigetsu mentioned that power hungry delinquents come to him for power and agree to be experimented on, which make up many of his test subjects. The rest are trafficked to him through the Akatsuki." Sasuke added.

"So he wouldn't with his subjects, but what about someone else?"

"If he were to target someone specifically, then yes. He's a bored genius. If he's targeting someone it's because they've done something to peak his interest…in which case he'd definitely toy or play games with them. It'd be fun for him."

Sasuke's eyes found Shikamaru's instantly. He hated the grimness and worry he saw in them, because if a threat was enough to rattle the lazy genius, it was really fucking serious. He felt the knot of fear in his stomach grow and tighten painfully.

"You're asking very specific questions Shikamaru. What has you concerned?" He needed to give Ino more credit. That woman could read people scary well. It also made him wonder just how good of a liar Sakura was to get anything past her.

Shikamaru met his eyes again, understanding passing between them. Shikamaru gave a small nod, his meaning clear. He'd back Sasuke up.

"We think he's leaving you a message, Sakura." He could feel the ripples of his statement hit the others like a bomb.

"Why would you think that?" Kakashi murmured, clearly less than thrilled at the implications.

"The first body was an accident. Never meant to happen. Someone got careless and he escaped before succumbing to the experiments. But we've already established, he's smart and been doing this a while which means—"

"The second body shouldn't have happened. We should have never found it. Unless it was intentional." Kakashi finished.

"Why do you think it's a message for me though?" Sakura's voice was shockingly calm. He had given her warning of his suspicions last night, So maybe that helped prep her. But when he took a closer look at her, behind how well she was hiding it, he could see just how rattled she was. It was Shikamaru who answered her.

"The body dump was your team's old practice ground. That's not random. So that could be a message for any one of squad 7. We've established that he's got a pool of test subjects to choose from, so why the one he chose? If he were trying to misdirect, he'd have picked someone similar to the first body, to make you think there was a type. He picked a female, in a fairly recognizable state comparatively. One with a body type and coloring similar to yours, Sakura."

It was dead silent for a few long seconds, and then all hell broke loose in the surprising form of Ino. Her hand slammed down on the table loudly, her body positioned in front of Sakura as if to shield her, her voice several decimals above safe. Her glare at Shikamaru positively lethal.

"WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT PSYCHO BASTARD WANT WITH SAKURA?"

"Why are you asking me?!" Shikamaru shot back alarmed.

"CAUSE YOU'RE THE ONE WHO SAID IT! THE FUCK DOES THAT SADIST WANT WITH HER?"

"How the hell should I know?!"

"YOU'RE THE GENIUS!"

"AND YOU'RE THE MIND READER!" Apparently team 7 wasn't the only squad prone to fighting. It was fascinating to see Shikamaru devolve into yelling—Sasuke figured Ino and Temari were probably the only two who could get him to that point.

Squad 10 had been something of a legacy. The three families just worked well together—their skills complimented each other. It had been a tradition for the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi to serve on a squad together. Team 10 had proven to be just as skilled and cohesive a squad as their parents before them—better even. Ino, Shikamaru and Choji had grown up together. They were like siblings to each other. And apparently, like normal siblings, they fought loud.

Sasuke was more surprised that Naruto hadn't been the one to explode first. His blond best friend was staring between pictures of the second crime scene and Sakura, uncharacteristically quiet and surprisingly deep in thought. Kakashi sat looking grim. Sakura, again, had put on a surprisingly calm front, though he could see the tension of her muscles, and the minute tightening of her lips. She had a far away, troubled look in her eyes, and as if she felt his stare, her eyes locked on to his. He saw the cloudiness clear, replaced by a determined light.

"IT'S NOT MIND READING IT'S—"

"Ino-chan." The blond whipped around to her pink haired best friend, only to be sent a completely disarming smile, Sakura's medically worn hand rested reassuringly on her shoulder. The blonds anger seemed to dissipate, leaving just a very obvious concern.

"Nobody knows Sakura-chan's a part of this though," Naruto spoke, his voice lacking any of its usual joviality, "do you think there's a leak?" The dead last could be smart when he wanted to be.

"If there is, we need to inform the prime minister." Sasuke answered.

"We should inform her regardless," Kakashi said, "she'll kill us if we withheld that her favorite student was being threatened. The question is how to proceed if there is a leak."

"Well, on the bright side, this actually gives us a couple new angles to work." Sakura stated, her voice surprisingly bright. Five sets of eyes shot to her, with varying degrees of incredulity. "What? Because of the profile, we know his motives and reasoning—science—and that he's bored. So however he found out about me, he's probably excited because I could present a challenge, and there's nothing more appealing than that when you're bored. That means that now he's playing a game, which he hasn't done before, and will likely inadvertently give us openings to catch him. Now we've got the Suigetsu lead, and going through everyone I know for someone suspicious. That's a lot more than we've had to work with the last two days."

"Well, I mean, yeah—when you put it that way…but aren't you worried Sakura-chan?"

She gave a half hearted shrug. "I can take care of myself. Besides, I'll be here most of the time anyways." Her voice had that barely audible rasp to it. Sasuke knew she was lying, she was far more worried than she was letting on. No one else seemed to realize that though.

"But you live on your own, Forehead!"

"So? I can take care of—"

"It's not that we don't think you can handle it. But it's better to be cautious. In this case living by your self is a risk not worth taking." Kakashi cut in smoothly. It seemed this had swayed her cause she didn't try arguing further.

"You can crash at my place, Sakura-chan!" Naruto proclaimed loudly.

"Absolutely not. You and Hinata-chan just started living together, the last thing she needs is another girl crashing on her couch! You made her wait long enough Naruto—no way am I gate crashing!" Sakura growled somewhat viciously.

"You can stay on my couch, Forehead!" Ino supplied cheerily. Sakura simply sighed.

"Did you forget you also live with your boyfriend, Pig? He'll say something stupid and I'll break him and probably some of your furniture by accident."

"Right. Good point."

"You can stay with me." He murmured. Now all five sets of eyes snapped to him and fuck was it uncomfortable. He said he wouldn't run away from their relationship and he intended on keeping his word, but it truly went against his nature. What was the big deal anyways? It wasn't like they'd never crashed at each other's places before. When he used to get really drunk, he'd wake up the next morning on Sakura's couch. After really late nights, she'd crash on his. But no one had known about it. Those were only for one or two days most, never some long, indefinite period of time. It also wasn't lost on him that the connotations were different now. They were together, but he understood that they still needed to take it slow and learn exactly what that meant. Her staying with him—living with him, that was faster than they should be going. But what was the alternative?

Ino and Naruto were both unabashedly gaping at him like idiots. Kakashi's one visible eye had initially widened in shock but was now regarding him curiously. Shikamaru had a mild look of surprise painted across his bored features. The only one he cared about though was Sakura, who he could see was calculating everything in her head now that the shock faded. When she finally spoke, her voice was perfectly even.

"Yeah, I think that makes the most sense. Thank you, Sasuke-kun." He caught how her hand quickly swiped across the back of her head—an old nervous gesture. He wanted to give her some reassurance that this would be ok, but he felt like his stomach was going through a small series of electric shocks—which he recognized as nerves. He was just as uncomfortable as her and in no place to offer reassurance.

"Right. Well now that that's taken care of," Kakashi broke in, thankfully redirecting the groups focus back to the task at hand, "Shikamaru and I will go inform Lady Tsunade about the potential leak. Sakura, you and the boys should go over everyone you know and see if anyone's shady. Ino, it'd be great if you could help as well, although they might be needing you in interrogation, so no worries if you can't. Sasuke, get Suigetsu here."

"He won't come willingly."

"Sure he will! You said he's a mercenary, right bastard? Pay him to cooperate and he'll come. Granny said we had full access to KPD resources." Naruto supplied.

"Hn. Keep having ideas like that and the city might not blow up when you're prime minister."

"Not blowing up's a pretty good policy. Think I should campaign with that?"

"If you do, I'm moving to Suna."

Kakashi gave an exasperated chuckle. "Alright enough of that now, get to work."

Everyone filed out, but Sakura's hand stopped him before he could exit the room.

"Are you alright?" He asked immediately, making no effort to hide his concern—he didn't have to anymore.

"I'm…no, I'm not. It's…well, unsettling's an understatement. But that aside," she cleared her throat a little, "thank you. For offering to let me stay with you Sasuke-kun. But I don't want you to feel like you have too. Or were pressured into it. It's ok. I can probably stay with TenTen-chan, or Shizune-senpai." She shifted her weight a little, her eyes glancing up and away nervously. It took him a second to process what her words meant. She thought he'd only offered because he felt pressured into it. She was worried about his comfort. Even in this situation. Warmth surged through him.

"I didn't offer because I felt pressured too."

"Oh—you didn't?" Sasuke shook his head.

"Wait you don't want to have sex already, do you?" Sakura whispered looking rather startled.

Sasuke pointedly ignored the way heat now surged through him, pooling into his lower body. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at her, biting out a terse "No."

"Then why—" She stared at him with such openness and confusion that his guard immediately dropped.

"Is it that hard to believe I actually want you there?"

Sakura blinked at him for a second. "I guess after what we talked about yesterday, not so much. It's more peace of mind for you if I'm with you right? So you'll know nothing'll happen and you won't lose me?"

He paused, thrown off by how easily she seemed to get to the route his mind had taken earlier. He slowly nodded. The smile that bloomed on her face blew away all his unease like a gust of spring wind.

"I'm sorry. I overreacted. I didn't think you'd be comfortable with making a move like that so fast…even under these circumstances."

"I'm not. And I didn't think you'd want it either. But in this situation…If you want to stay somewhere else, you can. Just…don't think I'm not an option."

"You're right. On both fronts. Rushing things makes me feel like we're trying to squeeze things into a time frame, like—"

"—I'm going to leave again."

"Yeah…I'll stay with you Sasuke-kun. It's not like I've never crashed at your place before. I just wanted to make sure it was actually ok."

He was actually very relieved that she'd agreed. He knew she could take care of herself. But if something happened he wouldn't know. And thinking about that would drive him insane. If she was with him, at least he'd know if something happened, and be able to back her up. Odds were that she'd be fine no matter where she was, so long as she wasn't alone, but there was only one place she could stay that would keep his mental sanity in check.

She was giving him that smile again, and he found his eyes focusing in on her lips. Memories of the night before rushed him: the feel of those lips brushing against his own, her fingers tangling in his hair, him pulling her closer, kissing her deeper…never mind. Her proximity was as bad for his mental sanity as her distance. But he figured he rather feel this kind of crazy, than the worry/paranoia kind. He had to mentally slap himself out of it. They were at work, with an important job to do.

"Come on. Let's go run background checks on everyone you know."

* * *

**Author's note: For those who don't know, Tokubei (who Sasuke makes refference to with Shikamaru) is a character from _The Love Suicides at Sonezaki _By Chikamatsu Monzaemon, a play written for a Japanese style of puppet theater called Bunraku. Kishimoto makes reference to Chikamatsu in the battle with Sasori-Chiyo's ten puppets were from the first puppet master, Chikamatsu Monzaemon.**

**I'm really proud of this chapter. Sasuke and Sakura's conversation has been one that's been rattling around in my head for a while. I've always felt that there's a lot of breaks in Sasuke's speech when it comes to voicing his feelings and that things come out a bit mixed up or clumsy, like they do in the Retsuden novel. I also feel like all of Sasuke's emotions are felt viscerally and physically. Sakura has more mental understanding of hers, and can put names and connections to what she's feeling, but for Sasuke, things like attraction, affection, lust** **and love are things he doesn't know how to place so they express themselves through temprature, electricity, or magnetic pull.**

**Anyways, I hope you liked it! Thank you so so much for all the favs, follows, and most of all, reviews. I love seeing them and they provide me with a lot of motivation and ideas so please keep 'em coming! :)**


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